Mukashi Mukashi... (Closed)

by **Gigaverse** » Fri May 23, 2014 9:02 pm

Story Index

1. The Juggernaut Witch of Stadely - Mefpan
2. The 'Baltic Sea Anomaly' - Horizont
3. The Order War, Part 1: A New World! - Mefpan
4. Everyday Life in the People's Republic of Skalia (Tragedy) - National Socialist Korea
5. Summer with Minamoto Hideko-chan (Pt. 1) (Comedy) - Gigaverse
6. If only Reincarnation was Reality (Part 1) (Drama) - Gigaverse
7. The Black Blood Coup; Instalment Ein - Horizont
8. The First Great Retcon of Lesrenadia (Comedy) - National Socialist Korea
9. Hell Hath No Fury - Horizont
10. Saint Lucius and a Maiden Dame (Drama) - Gigaverse

11. The Order War, Part 2: Old gods, sleeping gods, new gods. - Mefpan
12. Melancholia's New Lord (Drama) - Gigaverse
13. Hammaeroth Saga: Black Dog & Black Cloak (Drama) - Gigaverse
14. Hammaeroth Saga: The Day a Demon Knight was born (Drama) - Gigaverse
15. Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 1) (Tragedy) - Gigaverse
16. If only Reincarnation was Reality (Part 2) (Tragedy) - Gigaverse
17. Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 2) (Drama) - Gigaverse
18. Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 3) (Drama) - Gigaverse
19. First Minister of Adorable Affairs (Comedy) - Gigaverse
20. Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 4) (Drama) - Gigaverse

21. Shards Saga: A Celestial Melancholy (Spin-off) (Drama) - Gigaverse
22. Shards Saga: A Celestial Melancholy (Part 2) (Drama) - Gigaverse
23. Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 5) (Comedy) - Gigaverse
24. Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 6) (Drama) - Gigaverse
25. Shards Saga: A Celestial Melancholy (Part 3) (Drama) - Gigaverse
26. Shards Saga: A Celestial Melancholy (Part 4) (Tragedy) - Gigaverse
27. Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 7) (Drama) - Gigaverse
28. Hope Can (Not) Be Seen (Tragedy) - Gigaverse
29. You Have A Heart (aka How S.S. Changed the Contract) (Drama) - Gigaverse
30. VR Training: THЗ ЬДTTLЭ ФF TЯФST - Mefpan

31. Project #24615 "Carlene" - Horizont
32. Negligentia, Part 1 (Drama) - Gigaverse
33. Negligentia, Part 2 (Drama) - Gigaverse
34. Adalwolfa's Reich, Part I - Horizont
35. Adalwolfa's Reich, Part II: Österreich Falls - Horizont
36. Shards Saga: A Celestial Melancholy (Part 5) (Tragedy) - Gigaverse

43.

by **Gigaverse** » Fri May 23, 2014 9:03 pm

Reserved

by **Mefpan** » Sat May 24, 2014 6:32 am

"Warning: A state of emergency has been declared for the immediate area around the Citadel of Stadely. A Juggernaut class Witch has been spotted en-route to the city.
All civilians are to find shelter in sub-level bunkers of at least Indigo class. Please follow the instructions of military and police.
This is not a drill. This message repeats. Warning: A state of emergency..."

Main Airlock Gate, Citadel of Stadely

The roar of engines grew louder all around as a

"No, I don't care how many times you tell me! I don't get why I am supposed to hand over valuable military equipment to little girls with fancy magical tricks!", a man in your typical Mefpan-black flak trenchcoat shouted angrily, his pointing finger hovering just a few millimeters in front of a red-headed child's face who stood there with a frustrating calmness - the only reaction his shouting had gotten out of her so far was her wiping his spit out of her face - and it was frustrating as hell. This bitch knew he'd get shot the moment he made any kind of physical contact, even by accident. It wasn't right to be outranked by a spoiled brat like this!

"Again, it is because little girls like me are here to make sure you don't get killed miserably-" The redhead was cut off as another massive impact struck the citadel gate, shaking the ground and bringing down a few pieces of rock from the ceiling. "- by that Witch out there. Speaking of witches: Kaori, have you managed to determine who we're dealing with here?"

In response to her question, a purple-haired girl in what could at one point have meant to be a Shinto shrine maiden's outfit looked into her direction, disloding herself from her working with the insides of a 71,0cm Ballistic Railgun as she tore out the Safety Energy Limiter. "...I actually have no idea, this time around. This is...more than one of them, despite what we were initially told."

The uniformed man's eyes seemed to bulge outwards as he paled, stepping between the two girls. "Wha-wha-what do you mean, more than one of them?! The reports clearly said that..."

"...they're almost always inaccurate because non-magical personnel make them, leading to wild fluctuations in the numbers like this. You are the garrison commander, you should know this", the purple-haired girl said before just bridging the piece of circuitry she'd just interrupted when she tore out the limiter. She nodded over to the redhead.

"Cynth, please get this guy out of here. We don't need this liability here", she spoke, pointing at the soldier.

"Sure thing, Kaori. Come on, Mister. Let's go somewhere else", Cynthia spoke, moving to poke him. He recoiled as if he and the girl's finger were magnets of the same polarity. She continued on and on, slowly nudging the guy who was by now genuinely afraid for his life out of the area. Kaori, in the meantime, slammed the railgun's maintenance hatch shut and jumped off the jury-rigged artillery piece that would now perhaps not blow up when infused with magic. She turned around...and was immediately assaulted by the scent of catnip.

In front of her sat a white-haired Magical Neko Girl she'd learned to know as Eleonea Arcallo, squatting on the floor and filling empty medicine capsules with some sort of powder. Next to her, several dolls were plucking apart, grinding down and pressing dry the plant the scent of which lingered in the air so thickly.

"You really should stop doing that. The way the stuff affects you isn't even coherent with the rest of nature - hell, even cat youkai react more logically to it than you ever will", Kaori said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I blame dastardly incubator shenanigans for my mental coherence even when expose to it. It gives me a speed advantage, you know. Besides, don't talk to me about doing strange stuff. Talk to the support we've gotten from the Citadel of Eien", the white-haired neko said and pointed over to a downright gargantuan war machine in the distance.

Kaori looked over to it and saw black and white. And a bit of blonde. An ordinary western magician's outfit - and a few other girls. They were setting up what appeared to be...car sized speaker boxes. The girl in black-white gave a thumbs up, apparently signaling an all-clear to the rest of the group. The air was filled with the hum of static electricity as powerlines thick as a car's wheel were connected to the massive warmachine she just now recognized began to charge its capacitors.

At the same time, the speakers sprung to life, blasting the entirety of the area with that group's music.

"...really. We've got the lunatics from Eien over here, too? And they managed to get their hands on the local SIGIL emplacement?"

"Look, at least they're not cosplaying Yukarmmpfhhh--" Eleonea was silenced as Kaori pressed her hands onto her mouth.

"Don't even tempt fate. Do not. We do not need anyone like that here. We're already slated to get visits from the SCARLET Squadron stationed here already - that's far more lunacy than I can take", she said before removing her hands from Eleonea's mouth.

"Alright, alr-" Another loud crash, from the gate again. Luckily, it held. "-ight. Cynth, relay that we're ready and - yeah, the girls from Eien are ready too, they've gone on to testing out various poses to assume when they fire the gun they hijacked.", she said, knowing that Cynthia was probably listening in thanks to their telepathic connection.

Moments later, an announcement came in over the emergency speakers scattered throughout the cavern entrance. No one heard it because the girls from Eien were still playing their music at full volume. Another girl, one from the Citadel of Stauffenburg - if her winged hat and shining golden outfit was any indication - leveled a battlestaff at the speaker boxes and encased them in a sound bubble, silencing them for the moment.

"...will wait out the next blast. Ah, thank you for shutting them up for a moment. As I was saying, this is Amanda Watson, head of the local Magical Girl union speaking; the Juggernaut witch outside is charging up attacks and throwing them at the gate in an attempt to breach it - so we're waiting out the next blast to make sure it hasn't any power charged up when we open the gate and blow it to pieces. Since it's such a huge one, we're quite certain it doesn't necessarily have familiars - it's accompanied by full blown lesser Witches. We're getting support from the 9th and 11th armoured battallions who'll make sure none of them run past us - in the Juggernaut witch's area of influence they don't have to - or rather cannot hide in a barrier, but once they get far enough into the city, we're fucked because that means we'll have to search for over fifty witches in the aftermath.

So, everyone - do not fuck this up. We've got SCARLETs on standby and if we get overrun, I don't want to know who'll end up overriding my authority to call in bombardment on our position.

Now then, prepare for the next blast. The doors will open up immediately afterwards. Tea and cake for everyone after we're done here~."

Next to Kaori and Eleonea, Cynthia reappeared, seemingly stepping out of nowhere, "Well, here goes nothing, I suppose. You two ready?"

"No worries. I think I've managed to get that thing on full auto. It'll be a piece of molten slag by the time we're done, but it will be a glorious day", Kaori nodded. Behind her, the modified railgun was already glowing in ways that would unnerve most people.

Eleonea instead swallowed two of the pills she'd prepared earlier. Her pupils dilated slightly and a stupid grin spread across her face as she picked up a thick strand of rope that seemed to be woven from thin nylon cord, "Dontworryaboutmeiamperfectlyfineandreadyillbedealingwiththestragglersluredintoourdirectionbykaorialrightsojustdowhatyouguysdobest!"

"...Cynth, did you understand anything?"

"Hell if I know, she sounds like a machine gun every time she does that."

And yet again, a shockwave of despair broke against the massive citadel gates without doing much damage to it.

"That's it, girls. Opening the gate now! Up and at them!"

The gate's locks disengaged and security bolts retracted. Then with a rumbling noise of grinding gears, it was pulled out of the way and into the walls to the side.

"Vreee-ktchunk-kshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr--"

"Why are you giving voiceover to the sound of a citadel gate opening.", Cynthia asked, staring at Kaori - who gave no answer.

"Lookguysistheresupposedtobeasolidblackwallglowingallsortsofredrightinfrontofthegateopening?", Eleonea machine-gunned into the discussion.

Cynthia's eyes widened at the sight. "Wait wha- GET DOWN!"

A wave of concentrated red death lashed out into the cavern to claim every life within and paint the walls in an eerie crimson.

Only to be met by a brightly shimmering beam of scorching rainbow light.

Meanwhile...

Re-Forestation Area, Aboveground Outskirts of Neu Weissingen

A tiny girl with butterfly-like wings sat on a tree, observing the area. Perhaps a human would come by today so that she could prank him? Yes, that would be an amazing change of pace and stave off her boredom, certainly.

But...hold on. The earth was rumbling. Why was the Earth rumbling?

What's that bright flare in the distance?

She would have tilted her head in confusion, but a burning bright rainbow lanced through the treeline in front of her, her, and the mountain peak somewhere far, far behind her.

No one heard the silent 'picchun' as she was evaporated into her constituent magical energies, not to respawn until a few days later.

Main Airlock Gate, Citadel of Stadely

Cynthia slowly raised her head again in time to see the mist and smoke dissipating to reveal what exactly it was that stood in the entrance.

It was a dog. A badly drawn one, at that. And it had three heads. Well, two and a cauterized stump, to be precise.

"Kaori, if you shout 'Boom, Headshot!' now, I will introduce you to an octopus witch. No, I don't care if there are none in Mefpan. I will find one and I will introduce you to her."

"We've got different problems anyway - Eleonea, would you?"

Dozens of small entities - well, small in comparison to the scribble of a hellhound at least - surged forward, some flying, others thundering across the ground towards the Magical girls, the artificial bottleneck of a Citadel entrance leaving little to do in the ways of flanking, outmaneuvering or course-changing.

Eleonea smirked and yanked on the strand of nylon cord in her hands, splitting it into innumerable strings draped across the entire field that seemed to float all around her.

Among the surge of witches, the ground broke up and revealed...dolls. Hundreds of dolls. Dolls with swords. Knives. Spears. Axes. The odd rifle. They all moved to her whims as she pulled the strings with a speed that should be impossible. They moved and killed - one witch turned into pincushions as it was beset upon by a couple of dolls that neatly bisected it with a two-handed sword they carried together, another fell to a barrage of rifles, a third - speared to the ground and left to struggle against magical chains, others annihilated in the same fashion before they could do damage.

Kaori took aim to fire at the whever-headed dog with her modified railgun - a piece of heavy artillery turned into a machine gun in her hands, firing off slug after slug as ammo simply materialized inside it as opposed to needing to be reloaded, slowly whittling away at her target in cooperation with other batteries.

In the meantime, Cynthia had managed to disappear from their position. She reappeared in the center of a group of witches that were not so much cooperating as coincidentally having chosen to target the same magical girl. Said magical girl - Cynthia W. Stothard - lifted her hand into the air whereupon a mallet formed in her grasp - and she brought it down towards the ground. Instead of hitting the ground, it seemed to strike an invisible lectern making the sound of passed judgement.

The witches around her disappeared under agonized wails. In their place now stood a number of stakes, shadow-like shapes tied to them struggling against their bindings as the stakes lit themselves on fire. Cynthia disappeared from view again even as the flames continued to burn.

Back at the SIGL emplaceent, the group from Eien was laughing manically as they stood around (and, the black-white-clad one noticeably on top, standing as though she had fired the beam from her hand) of their hijacked gun, the gun that was now glowing red-hot from overheating and the black-white one had everything from her knees down burned despite the shield she'd put between herself and the barrel, but they didn't care. They lowered the barrel a tiny bit to aim at the beast's torso.

Earlier, the gun had fired with a resounding, powerful drone. Now it made a sound similiar to screaming as if in unbelievable, agonizing pain.

Meanwhile...

Re-Forestation Area, Aboveground Outskirts of Neu Weissingen

"Honeyfoam, where are you?", a second fairyshouted, but no answer came.

"Come on, there are no humans around here!", she tried again. Still no sign of her friend.

She made a final plea. "Let's go somewhere else!"

A distant whistle was what she could hear.

Oh, hey! There's a bright flash! Don't want to frown on a phot-and the mountain received yet another hole.

The area became witness to another 'picchun' and soon after, two clouds of magical fairy mist began to orbit each other, sparkling ever so slightly in the clear sunlight.

Main Airlock Gate, Citadel of Stadely

Cynthia pulled her head out of the dirt for the second time today - and her head hurt like hell. This was exactly why she was not fond of magical girls hailing from Eien - they always, absolutely always, stole the spotlight. She stared towards the entrance, seeing four leg stumps standing upright that were slowly disintegrating into nothingness. Around her, there were a number of girls digging around in the dust, clearly trying to dig up stray grief seeds.

Well, almost all of them. Eleonea was wandering around (or rather, sprinting around, as those accursed pills she'd taken earlier still hadn't worn off) trying to find as many of her dolls as possible, though Cynthia chanced a guess that a fair number of them didn't manage to survive the second time the Eien lunatics violated all logic and used something meant to shoot asteroids to pieces to bisect a giant hellhound-shaped witch.

Speaking of the girls from Eien, they just stood around in a circle, chatting and laughing. She groaned and stood up, staggering away towards Kaori who had changed out of her Magical Girl outfit and was now

"Uh. this is Amanda Watson speaking. All threats have been dealt with and...gods. Eien group, do you even realize how much collaterral damage you did?! I can't even pronounce the number in front of me - what the hell is wrong with you? No, that's not a reason to high-five! Oh, damn it all...I suppose that means cake..."

MGU Mess Hall, Citadel of Stadely

Cynthia listlessly prodded the piece of cheesecake in front of her, frowning slightly. She wasn't exactly satisfied with how that whole exercise went.

Eleonea, who had in the meantime calmed back down, looked at her, "What's wrong, Cynthia?"

"...kinda pissed how Eien stole all the attention. This was supposed to be about us, wasn't it? And then they go and make it so anticlimatic and cheesy. Hell, even the guy who made the cake acknowledged this was cheesy and cheap to no end!"

"Well, you know it was bound to happen as soon as someone found out they had a SIGIL stored here."

"Of course, of course! What's next, feeding a N2 mine to Walpurgisnacht? Look, there are just things that shouldn't be done - and utterly destroying something that should be hard to kill is one of those."

"...said the one who leapt into melee and burned nine witches at the stake. Look, grumpy, we're going to get plenty of opportunities to kick ass, as you'd put it, in the future. Just eat your cake for now. Unless you want Kaori to mess around with your head with her powers to make you forget that hatred."

Cynthia sighed and moved to finally take a bite. She found that her cake was gone. A little girl in a black dress was running away from the table, plate and cake in hand, then leapt and disappeared in a passing magical girl's shadow before Cynthia even registered what was happening.

"...why the fuck is that witch's familiar here? Why isn't anyone attacking it?"

"Hell if I know. It wanders around pretty much aimlessly and tends to go for real scum most of the time, so I guess people see it as a low priority target, especially considering that it has a tendency to return because, y'know, it's a familiar. That and it doesn't go after people when it's got other things to eat. Like your cake."

Cynthia sighed and shook her head in disbelief.

In that moment, Kaori returned with more cake she'd fetched for herself - pretty much an entire cake, to be honest. She held out a piece into Cynthia's general direction, "Want some?"

by **Horizont** » Sun May 25, 2014 5:08 am

The 'Baltic Sea Anomaly'

???, forests near Lublin, Polen-Litauen

It was night and overcast, and the rain was coming down hard. A very large and very wide military truck made its way along a concrete forest road, an armored car driving both in front of it and behind it. Even though their headlights beamed at their full blinding power, it was difficult to see further than ten meters because of the fog. In the distance, thunder flashed, lighting up the way for just a moment before there was an immense roaring muffled by the rain and the trees. The road was a good 70 meters wide, built like that because gigantic objects like this one frequently needed to be moved across here; and it doubled up as a runway, too.

The truck carried some kind of enormous water-tank or box on its back, a good 65 meters wide and long and perhaps 30 tall, its sides made of plain grey steel and solidly constructed using heavy bolts, although it was covered by dark green sheets of fabric.

There were lights ahead.

The convoy stopped at some sort of checkpoint. There was a steel and concrete gate, and a wall made of concrete, steel and barbed wire which ran from either side of the gate into the forest.

A guard, shivering in his tower, muttered something into a radio and the gate opened. The convoy proceeded inside, and there were more guards stood on the other side of the gate inside the perimeter.

Code: Select all: SCANNING... SCANNING... SCANNING... WARNING: INCUBATOR LIFE-SIGNS DETECTED ATTEMPTING TO BREACH PERIMETER PROXIMITY: 200 METERS FROM PERIMETER [2] ANTHENNAS CAN SEE THE TARGET AIMING... DONE! FIRING... DONE! TARGET DESTROYED SCANNING... SCANNING... SCANNING...

Everybody loudly ignored the fact that the head of some creature had imploded and then exploded for some reason, and the truck continued into the perimeter while the armoured cars parked in front of a building near the gate and powered off their engines. Their crews ran inside through the rain, hoping for nice hot cups of coffee with their comrades.

Laboratory 15, forests near Lublin, Polen-Litauen

The truck drove into a giant, elongated underground cavern where many other vehicles were parked. Powerful cranes were suspended from the roof, and the truck parked and powered off its engine. Men removed the fabric covers and one of the powerful cranes picked up the giant steel box, moving it along its tracks on the ceiling to another part of the laboratory.

"Wait until you see what the Research and Investigation Team brought for you." A young man in a white uniform murmured to himself, carrying a stack of papers down a busy corridor. ON THE APPLICATION OF MAGI-ENERGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FLYING DEVICES. THE EISMANN PROCESS OF WITCH CREATION. ON THE UTILIZATION OF GRIEF-SEEDS IN WEAPONRY. THE THEORY OF NOOSPHERE ALTERATION AND ANALYSIS.

All extremely secret papers, of course- anything getting out would mean that heads would roll.

He took a left turn, then a right, then another right, and eventually entered another giant underground cavern. A large yellow circle was painted in the center of the floor, and the giant metal box was positioned in the center of it. There were some people stood in front of it already, as engineers worked to remove the metal covers.

He stood next to one of his colleagues, a young woman in a similar white uniform with blond hair and feline ears. He handed her one of the papers. THE THEORY OF NUCLEAR-REPELLIVE FLIGHT.

"Oh, thank you. How nice of you. So this is how this thing flies, is it?"

"It appears so."

"Who would have thought? The 'Baltic Sea Anomaly' is actually the 'Außerirdische Flugscheibe'."

"Indeed. It appears that the Third Reich succeeded in obtaining alien technology... and building a flying disc using it."

"And so they crashed the result of the project into the Baltic Sea rather than let its secret fall to the Soviets?"

"Mhmm. How it is powered, we don't know; it utilizes a system powered by some form of unknown energy that seems to come from the decay of a radioactive element. But over time, this system broke in some way, and the surface of the craft became charged with energy. It must be kept underwater to prevent it suddenly discharging."

A group of three scientists and two guards moved across the cavern, pushing a humanoid containment pod in a horizontal position along with them.

Finally, the engineers finished and the metal plates fell away, showing a reinforced metal and glass structure filled with water to the brim. Occasionally, lightning flashed inside it, but one could not see much. And then powerful lights above it activated noisily, lighting up the interior.

There was a smooth disc-shaped object inside, along with a good amount of sand and rock, which it rested on. There were red lights embedded in its surface, which still faintly glowed.

I can feel it

Its power

I can use this

Its surface was made of metallic plates, bolted together. There was a long teardrop-shaped canopy, but it was not positioned at the front or center of the hull, but rather to the side. It had a large weapons bay on the underside, the doors of which were closed, and the landing gear was retracted.

It is faint

But I sick of this planet

An alarm started to blare. The scientists pushing the humanoid containment device dropped it and quickly moved away from it, and the guards jumped backwards and quickly aimed their weapons.

"Mein Gott! It's- it's trying to get out! But- b- but i-it was dormant!" One of the scientists stammered.

"It's 'she', comrade. Her particular species has genders similar to ours."

"Halt die Klappe! Go grab a suppressor! Jetzt!"

Our scientist, meanwhile, turned to his cat-eared colleague.

"Get out of here. Quickly."

He grabbed his submachinegun and slammed in a magazine.

"Get out? Never! Do you understand-"

"Please."

The alarm began to blare more frantically, until finally the lightbulb blew and the noise died. There was an explosion of pure, blinding white light. Shrapnel flew everywhere at immense velocity, decapitating one of the fuards and hitting the other in the stomach, sending him dead to the floor.

Everybody began to fire at once, without waiting for the smoke to clear. The walls lit up with the flashes of gunshots, which cast hard shadows everywhere.

The technology is compatible

I will make them pay now.

A female figure floated in the air, with strange eyes, but she was bound tightly in magical chains; they glowed green and were engraved with runes. But eventually, after much struggling, she broke free. They shattered, sending pieces flying towards the scientists, and they claimed a few more lives also.

"You fools! Your containment protocols cannot help you now!"

Her wounds quickly began to heal, leaving only the blood that had spilled onto her clothing. A long, two-handed blade materialized in her hands. She quickly flew towards the remaining people, dispatching them with ease, until only our cat-eared scientist remained. She turned towards her and a grin appeared on both of their faces.

The alien drew her sword out of a man's chest and both dashed towards the craft in the tank, eventually ending up at opposite sides of the glass and metal box. Now, it was simply a question of getting in. The alien drew back her blade and pierced the side of the tank with it, then withdrew it again ready for another blow. Meanwhile, the catgirl had drawn some kind of laser pistol and made herself busy cutting a human-sized hole in the glass. The alien stabbed again, and sparks flew out towards her; and again, and again. Water began to spill through the holes they were creating. An alarm began to blare indicating the tank was compromised, but neither wanted to lose precious time putting it out; and so it kept on blaring and blaring.

Eventually, the catgirl finished, and an elliptical piece of glass fell away- and at the same time, from inside the box, an immense surge of energy shot towards her. The lightning bolts struck her, and she was thrown around the air, screaming. The energy discharge continued, and after a time she stopped shrieking; her still body fell to the floor, where the lightning continued to dance upon it.

The alien finally now made her way in. The lightning was still dancing around and the craft was still discharging it. But as long as she stayed inside the water, she would be safe.

The guards running down the corridor towards the cavern hearn an electrical crackling, a shrieking, and then the whirr of an engine powering up, and then the shattering of glass. And that was the last thing they heard, for an immense shower of missiles flew towards them, leaving nothing standing. The missiles then made their way further into the laboratory, seeking targets. The blaring of alarms indicated that other experiments had gotten free. The craft then turned and accelerated down the cavern, its engines glowing brightly and lightning still discharing from it. It struck the sides of the cavern, weakening the rock, which began to fall a little. The entire caven began to shake.

She accelerated further, knowing that if she did not she would be buried. Luckily, the gate at the end was open just a little; she rotated the craft onto its side and slipped through.

Lublin Air Force Base, Polen-Litauen

"Attention! Attention! 12th SR squadron, scramble! I repeat, scramble!"

"Let's have some music, 97."

"Copy that~!"

At the flick of a switch, a piece of music began to play in the air-control tower and in the cockpits of the Schwarze Rose aircraft- which were Me-262s. They were painted white with a black underside, and their rose symbol was painted in black on the fuselage, tail and upper wing surfaces, and also in white on the bottom of the wings.

They were parked in a long line, and their pilots ran to them; the last pilot shut her canopy and the engines of their aircraft exploded into life.

"Alright, Njörun Squadron! Let's make some noise!"

They thundered down the runway and then pulled up in sync, adopting a V formation, their engines leaving bright trails which glowed in the dark. The leftmost aircraft rolled away to the left; the others all followed in turn, and by doing this they organized themselves in a line and- decided to practice their aerobatics, by the looks of things, rather than proceeding with the actual mission.

"They do love to show off, don't they?"

"Er- attention, 12th Squadron! I-

"Quiet, 102. I like watching them."

"But-"

After a while, they finally decided to resume their formation, climb high, and head towards the flying disc.

Several dots apppeared on the alien's smashed radar screen- and then several more, until there were eleven of them. They were not going to give up. But she wasn't going to go back there. Never. If she lost- she would put the craft into a nosedive and die with it. Or maybe if she managed to escape and tell somebody what they were doing here- they wouldn't be able to do anything.

BANG.

An explosive round hit her craft, snapping her out of her train of thought. She pulled up sharply. The squadron chasing her broke up, each member going after her in a different manner. As she headed upwards, she almost collided with one of them; but it successfully dodged her after unloading a few rounds into her craft. Three more were on her tail now.

But she would still get away. One of her engines exploded- as it did so, it accelerated her upwards at a great speed, leaving her pursuers behind. She was above the clouds now, and she could see the stars well, even through the scratched and cracked glass of the canopy. She was going to go back. Finally, free of this wretched world at last! She'd spent what must have been at least fifty years here; most of that in captivity. The human race was so awful. And what was worse- she looked like them.

BANGBANGBANGBANG.

More rounds hit her while she was not paying attention. She knew that she was quite badly damaged, but maybe she could still make it!

...No.

It was hopeless. She couldn't run on blind hope. Her remaining engine cut out, not being made for such altitudes. This craft couldn't even go into space. More rounds hit. And she was so deep in their territory there was little chance of making it out. But maybe- maybe she could try? It was surely better than giving up... Her craft pitched over and began to dive on its own, and soon the remaining engine came back to life. More rounds hit, and they hit the canopy this time. She lost control, and couldn't pull up again for a while; eventually, she mustered enough strength to yank on the control stick, even though it hurt. Terribly.

"Flight leader, are you charged yet?!"

"The curse-power is ready."

A bright beam of energy shot across the sky.

"Target presumed destroyed. Heading back to base."

"Good job, 12th Squadron. We've got tea and biscuits waiting for you. Do get home quickly, or it'll go cold, won't you?"

The hawks pushed their engines to full throttle and dived down towards the airfield, having spotted their next prey.

by **Mefpan** » Wed May 28, 2014 2:16 pm

[LINEARTIME: DEADSTART BRANCH - DEPRECATED CANON - TOP SECRET: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY]

Code: Select all: Retina check: Accepted! DNA check: Accepted! Brainwave pattern check: Accepted! Testing room contamination: Clear! Enter Password: **************************************************************************************** Password: Accepted! Retrieving footage. Footage retrieved. Checking file integrity... Files damaged. Attempting to restore files... ...files restored! Starting replay.

TUESDAY, 12 MARCH 2013: [REDACTED] RESEARCH COMPOUND - ISLE GAMMA - ARMED REPUBLIC OF MEFPAN

"Milady Castellan, please reconsider! This experiment is incredibly dangerous - what if the subject breaks free?"

"Then you will need me to break it into submission. You know as much. Remember Gavton."

"...of course, Milady Castellan. I did not mean to doubt you."

"Of course you did not. Make sure it never happens again."

"ATTENTION: INITIATING EXPERIMENT PHASE ONE. ALL PERSONNEL MOVE TO THEIR POSTS."

The door opened with a deep, metallic groan as it slid aside, revealing a wide open cavern, a perfect sphere one kilometer in diameter with no faults in its walls what-so-ever - at its very center was a brightly illuminated platform, affixed on a single pillar. A walkway, much more reminiscent of a suspension bridge rather than a proper walkway led towards it. On this platform sat...something roughly human-sized, chained down to the floor with restraints one would expect to be attached to a ship's anchor

"Greetings, Subject #4859. I trust you remember me?"

What an immensely stupid question. The thing on the platform let loose a feral scream and the chains restraining it bent and stretched. A burst of force thundered past her, just short of taking off her head. She stepped onto the walkway, smirking faintly.

"Of course you do, 4859, of course you do. After all, without me you would not be here. Would not be imprisoned. Would not be deprived of release, deprived of peace, deprived of death. I remember you as well.

Gavton City - it was. December 13th, last year. One hundred sixty-three thousand and two hundred and thirty-two counts of murder. Resistance against my army. Resistance against me. Vile struggles, vile insults, vile hope for peaceful death."

The figure railed against its bindings and one of the chains exploded into shrapnel, which shot across the distance to cut her down. She kept on walking as the pieces of metal wedged themselves into her body with wet, squelching thuds. She laughed.

"Your ability is most curious, my research team says. Destructive, powerful, extremely valuable to harness. Dangerous, lethal, absolutely deadly, is what I am told. We are standing in a spherical chamber one kilometer in diameter, which is the full extent of your power."

"ATTENTION: SUBJECT IS EMITTING HIGH LEVELS OF ENERGY. BE CAREFUL IN THERE.."

"Now what are you trying to do? Show it to me, give it to me, let me feel your wrath!"

She lunged forward as the figure screamed into her direction again. She found her limbs in a vice-like grasp as an invisible force pushed them into directions they should never go. Pain surged through her body and she laughed. The figure was lifted into the air, chains stretching to keep it from drifting away.

...then it slammed back into the floor with a sound not unlike the discharge of a howitzer. A pained scream echoed from the figure.

"Deadly? Powerful? Destructive? Lethal? Pah. You are nothing of the sort. A third rate psyker at best. Psionic combat is a battle of wills, a battle of minds, a battle of thoughts, souls, desires, feelings. You may attack but you have just as big of a chance to be defeated miserably. You must overpower my-"

An invisible hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing and twisting. Her vision turned around under cracking noises until she was facing backwards even though the rest of her body faced forwards. The entity let loose another agonized wail and her neck twisted back around, bone knitting itself back together as her already impossibly wide grin became even larger.

"-will if you seek to harm me against my wishes. Erode my ego barrier, if you will. Destroy my awareness of my own being through a superior presence for long enough for you to break it in accordance with your desires or nothing you do is permanent!"

Another few footsteps and she had covered the rest of the distance. She was standing before the entity now. She felt it feebly clawing at the boundaries of her mind. She slammed her plated boot into one of the figure's hands, shattering it underfoot. The presence recoiled.

"What? Are you so eager to gaze upon my soul, my mind, my being? I have faced Chaos, I have faced immeasurable horrors. Faced gods and demons alike and laughed in their face as they failed to claim me. You think you are the one to claim me where the Divine failed? You want to try?"

She bent down and grabbed the figure by the collar and simply tore it out its restraints, ignoring the fact that it was bleeding from numerous wounds that seemed to resemble those of shrapnel tearing into flesh. She reached out and tore the mask off its face. Her eyes and its eyes met.

"G̷͠O͏͟͞ ̡̛͏̷͞A̸̛͘Ḩ̸́̀͜E̛̕͡A̶͏̸҉̶D͟.̷̢́͡"

The figure in her grasp twisted and shook, hollering incoherent speech and pushing against her in an attempt to escape from something so horrible that no one could see. Then, the sound of bones being thrown into a grain mill. The entity wrenched itself out of her grasp like a snake and hit the floor with a wet squelch as it attempted to escape her.

"Getting desperate, are you? Here is a deal: I will release you from your pain if you help me access the world you saw just now. I received but a glimpse of it myself - but one of my associates is there and I will retrieve him whether he wishes it or not."

The figure whimpered in response.

"Good. We understand each other. Steinreißer - tell your men to get ready; Octavia, initiate the device!"

"AFFIRMATIVE. ACTIVATING DEVICE."

The walls began to glow a bright white as walkway and entrance began to fade away into nothingness, two guards who had been standing on it screaming as they fell into the void beneath.

"...Weiss, you fool. Do you believe I will let you desert this easily...?!"

"WARNING: BOUNDARY ENCOUNTERED. ATTEMPTING TO BRUTE-FORCE PAST I- AH, HELL. NO LUCK, WE CAN'T BREAK THIS BARRIER. SOMETHING IS REINFORCING IT. ATTEMPTING TO CIRCUMVENT."

"Subject 4859, put more effort into it unless you want to gaze into me again."

The figure whimpered as it struggled to stand up. The vision around them slowly became more coherent as the sphere seemed to contact, walls drawing closer and closer, the environment around them becoming recognizable. A forest, of sorts. Dark, deserted, not deserted, glowing lights, silent footsteps somewhere in the distance.

"Almost there. Almost earned your freedom..."

Suddenly, the figure hurled itself at her and twisted past her arms that tried to grab it, its hands reaching into the trenchcoat she wore, cold steel coming to rest against its head. A flash of light. A silent explosion. The view distorts.

"WHAT THE HELL, WE'RE LOSING CONTRO-"

The next thing she felt was being hurled through the void, soaring through the nothingness as the realm she had sought to penetrate repelled her and cast her aside with an ease she had not known before. She grit her teeth and drew her sabre, placing it above her heart, determined to just kill herself and be reactivated rather than waste away slowly soaring through the void.

"Now, now. It would be such a shame to ruin that body of yours like so. Put that thing down, please. Would you care to accompany me to my h-"

She found herself standing on a grassy plain, someone having taken a position uncomfortably close to her. She turned her head slightly. A man. Extravagant clothing colored a shade of purple, a purple gemstone placed above his neck, purple eyes, ..purple hair? The stench of corruption.

"Demonspawn. Sellsoul. I feel vile temptations claw at my mind, seeking to pull forth what is not there. Begone from my sight."

"Wha-"

Her blade tore through his throat, shattering the gemstone with a swift stab right through it. She spun around, yanking the impaled man along as he clawed at his throat, trying to pull himself off the blade. She reached into her coat, found the pistol she'd lost moments ago, leveled it at the man's chest and fired. The slug tore through his lung, bursting out of his back with little resistance. She fired again. The second bullet tore through his heart, stopping its beat forever. He continued to struggle. She adjusted her aim and fired a third time. A bullet tore through his jaw. She ground her spin to a halt and pulled her sword into the opposite direction. The man's head detached from his shoulders, flying into the air. Adjust aim. Fire once. Fire again. Fire a third. Three hits strike true, piercing the man's skull.

"I said 'begone', sellsoul."

She put her gun and sabre back where they belonged and took a moment to look up. Purple lifeblood rained down onto her, earning a displeased grimace from her. This figure had entirely too much of a purple theme going on.

"Huh. They did tell me there was a wayward member of the cursed Venomania bloodline that managed to get banished to our plane - but this was an almost perfect re-incarnation of the Mad Duke. You were not mentioned, either. Who are you?"

She turned away from her kill to look at the new arrival. She immediately noticed the black wings. The second thing she saw was a longsword. The third and other things afterwards she noticed were blonde hair, blue eyes, a short-ish red summer dress and her new company's inquisitive stare. That was a girl no doubt.

"Put the sword down before you hurt yourself."

"Answer my question first."

"I do not negotiate with abhumans that threaten me with a weapon."

"Abhuman? I am not a human, in case you are blind. Who. Are. You?"

"You point your weapon at me. I refuse to speak with you as long as this situation persists."

The girl that just appeared threw herself at her sword outstretched towards her in a stab. What a stupid way to fight. She drew her sabre in a swift motion to simply slap the blade aside - then her enemy disappeared only to reappear right above her, bringing the sword down on her. She leapt to the side, drew her handgun and fired a couple of times. Her opponent simply cleaved the bullets out of the air. They clashed again, blades locking against each other.

"Your reflexes are not too bad for a human - but you know that the first one of us to succumb in this bladelock will be cleaved apart?"

"It is too bad for you that my limbs do not tire. What about you, chicken girl?"

"Crow. I am a crow. Not too surprising from a human-level intellect, but a Mokuji has her pride, though it is better than your referring to me as human"

"Mokuji, huh. So this is like some messed up version of Japan...huh..."

"Of what?"

"Nevermind. Do me a favor: Yield and die."

"After you."

THURSDAY, 14 MARCH 2013: [REDACTED] RESEARCH COMPOUND - ISLE GAMMA - ARMED REPUBLIC OF MEFPAN

Again, the gatling gun of her mechanized suit spun to life and spat killing lead at the rift at the center of the chamber even as more armored figures stepped through, crimson bucklers raised in a vain attempt to protect themselves from the hail of gunfire. The portal rippled again and grew in size for a moment, a giant war machine stomping through that dwarfed even her mechanized suit. The machine leveled one of its arms at her and she threw herself behind cover just in time to dodge a blast of energy that tore through the infantry behind her and caused them to disintegrate outright.

She popped back out of cover and fired several homing missiles at the thing, watching them miss their target as rocket boosters on its back activated and carried it over the rickety walkway. The missiles found a new target in the rocket boosters, changed their course and slammed into the machine's back, tearing it to pieces as its fuel tanks ignited because of the resulting explosions.

"The situation is getting worse - the unidentified enemies are bringing in heavy machinery! I want a PURGE-17 down here yesterday! Move it!"

THURSDAY, 14 MARCH 2013: ??? - ???

"Give. Up. Already. You. Annoy. Me, Human."

"Like hell, birdo."

Someone sighs. A white-haired woman steps closer to them, resting her hands on both contestant's blades

"You two will never get done with this if you don't give it up already. Neither of you is going to kill the other one.

""Shut up, bloodsucker.""

The white-haired woman yanks the blades apart, a shockwave of static energy rolling outwards in that very moment and causing the trees aorund them to explode.

"That was not a suggestion. I am getting bored and hungry. And perhaps you should introduce this new arrival to the Council, Tsuya. I think your sister would be delighted if you did not murder promising newcomers right away. Say, honorable woman, what might your name be?"

"My name is Will, befanged kiss-ass."

"Wiru? What kind of name is that?"

"Will. Not Wiru. Get it right, chicken."

by **National Socialist Korea** » Thu May 29, 2014 7:25 am

December 25th, 2013
Skalian Countryside

"The Rebellion has been stopped. The Revolution once again continues."

A prideful but sadistic smile appeared on Marek's eyes. Those eyes of his met with the ones of the terrified villagers.

"Stop this instance! They have nothing to do with this! It is my initiative to have started this rebellion!"

Another man showed up, clad in warm grey, black and maroon fur coat. General Semijohn Gronkob.

"Oho? Is it truly just you who could have come up with such a daring idea as this?"

"Your Grace... By the love of Dear Leader Pyotreau... Forgive us... My Lord!", an elderly woman said.

"Only fools hand out forgiveness.", Marek said.

A bomb exploded within the village, sending it in flames. Marek pointed his gun at the elderly woman, killing her with one shot in the head. All of them screamed in terror, looking at the bloodied corpse of the elderly woman. All and every one of them wanted to run away, but they couldn't - because People's Army soldiers had them surrounded.

"This Christmas, the People's Party celebrates the defeat of another terrorist faction.", Marek declared, "Let the celebration begins! Comrades!"

"Roger that, Comrade Director! Brothers, Merry Christmas!", General Gronkob said in the most cheerful manner possible.

The crowd was confused. But once the men began to reach for their pants, they started to understand what was happening ...

by **Gigaverse** » Thu May 29, 2014 7:44 pm

Anywhere, at any time, there is a nobody. And this is the story of one of them.

In a remote, peaceful corner of the Holy Imperium of Man, there is a city called Altokyo. And nobody knows who the heck would have named the place... that.

Inside the city, inside a regular house, there are two people. And one of them is the daughter of the other.

Her name is... Minamoto Hideko.

"You called me?", the girl in black twin-tails asked.

"Um... maybe? Carry on with the story, you.", I, the Narrator, said.

"Okay...", she seemed down. Oh well.

She lives in a setting where, sometimes, one could notice that there is no Fourth Wall whatsoever. But the fate of the Fourth Wall is not the main focus of the story, so I'll move on.

This completely regular-looking girl goes to a completely-regular looking school in the center of the city. She must take the bus, and boy is it crowded.

There are slightly special details, however: her school is the third-best in the entire city. And she herself, is a closet Otaku.

"Uwaaah... Um... No no no no no! Please, don't tell anybody!", she blushed, trying to tell me to stop. It didn't work.

In her free time, Hideko would hide in the corner of the classroom to participate in online forum activities.

She's not that shy a girl though. She's willing to make friends. But friends don't seem to come easy for her.

"Fueeeh...", she had tender tears about it. Definitely not my doing.

She believes she has more friends outside of the classroom. And she also believes she's a bit mentally twisted as well.

Hideko is terrible at physical education. She thinks she's not a particularly good-looking girl at all. In fact, she thinks she's ugly. She's heard a classmate saying "the guys used to elevate you to the position of Miss Classroom", but she dismissed that as impossible nonsense.

Something is up. Summer is coming, and the examinations are over. It's a relief for Hideko, since she doesn't think she had done well with the exams. That is, she now knows she could spend more time visiting good friends and meowing with her voice rather than on the internet.

"Nyan...", she said.

And thus begins the summer of Minamoto Hideko-chan.

by **Gigaverse** » Fri May 30, 2014 11:00 pm

Minamoto Hideki
???

May 13th, 2014 (Local Calendar)
Governorate of Serica
0500 Hours

The Zeppelin finally landed after a long journey. Zophia Myleanna and her children left their transport, and let their feet touch the ground. The place didn't seem familiar at all. Eleven people, some were scared, some were worried, a few were both. Zophia was the last of three cases.

"Come. There's a guesthouse prepared specifically for you. Don't worry, we mean you no harm."

A "bus" - if it could be called that, since it was flying - landed near them, automatically opening its door. All twelve people boarded the vehicle, which then began to carry them away.

The scenery along the road was extraordinary. Fields of crops, long lakes, sparkling rivers, prairies clad with colorful flowers, forests, waterfalls... But none of them had the Pyotreau family distracted. After all, it was logical: they were in somewhere they had never been to before, being driven away by strangers.

At 0800 Hours, they arrived at the guesthouse. Situated so that it could look out to the seas, the view was something to be marveled at. Ultimately, not able to hold herself back, Hana - Zophia's youngest daughter - held her cheeks and stared at the blue waters, her eyes rounded:

"Fueeh~... It looks so pretty~!"

On the other side, a silent Zophia looked at her sons and daughters. She wanted to smile, but she couldn't. Her husband was the single member of the family missing, and she didn't know about his whereabouts either. To top it all, she could consider her family some kind of hostages.

"Here, young mother."

The unfamiliar bespectacled young man approached her, handling her keys.

"K... Keys? May I ask... what are they for?"

"Access to your rooms. Consider this your new - but probably temporary - home. We have furnished this 'guesthouse' with everything you need, from air conditioners, hairdryers, stoves, refrigerators, bathtubs, showers... Don't worry about costs, we don't charge you. At all."

"Uhh... Mister..."

"Minamoto Hideki. Call me Hideki."

"Ye... Yes. I... don't know..."

"I told you, Lady Zophia. We are friends with your husband, so we would never lay a hand upon you."

Zophia finally bowed to Hideki.

"Thank you, Mister!"

"Do your best, young mother."

Hideki walked away from Zophia and her ten children, leaving her there to stare at him walking away.

by **Horizont** » Sat May 31, 2014 9:21 am

The Black Blood Coup; Instalment Ein

Within

Thousands of little dolls, with stitched-on smiles and button eyes, arranged neatly on a cold marble floor. A figure tiptoed in a zigzag line between them; an almost transparent, discolored figure in a white dress. On a distant horizon rose a mountain of broken, discarded toys: decapitated dolls; eyeless dolls; limbless dolls; wheels; wings; burnt-out tanks; biplanes covered with rotten canvas; rifles; spent cartridges; helmets; holed ships' hulls; ripped and torn flags; swords; souvenirs of still-burning hate; souvenirs of the defenseless and the despairing; souvenirs of those who tried to save them; broken souvenirs of justice and good.

The figure held a cross-shaped wooden object in each hand, with strings attached to them; there were strings attached to every one of her dolls, too.

She stopped and picked one up. She produced a miniature guillotine, and a head fell, followed by a sea of blood which soaked into the marble and left no trace.

And then she lost interest in the broken toy, and discarded it to join the mountain.

Reichstag, Haupdstadt Schwaben, Reichskommissariat Neuschwabenland, Antarktika
6th of January, 2008

Booted feet marched down a darkened corridor. Five female figures in white trenchcoats, gas masks and helmets.

"We are here."

They stopped outside a corridor and drew their weapons- each held a large, silenced assault rifle in each arm. They had stopped in front of a large, elegant, wooden double-door, which really should have had guards posted in front of it but, for one reason or another, didn't.

One of the women straightened the black flower on her chest, before giving the door a swift kick that sent it flying from its hinges.

They ran into the room, a rather stunned man watching them from behind his large desk piled with documents. On the wall behind him hung the red, white and black flags of the Reich.

One of them reached up to her face, and there was a brief hissing noise, as well as white steam which rushed out of the mask's two filters, before the mask came away to reveal a face with unnaturally radiant orange eyes.

"Greetings, unser Führer."

"Wh-W-What is the meaning of this?!"

"It's nothing personal."

"I-I am your Führer! Cease aiming your weapons at me, immideately!"

"Oh, please, I can see you are reaching under your desk to call the guards. Please, do so. I haven't had a chance to properly play with the SS in a long time."

"WHAT-"

BLAM.

BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM.

Large craters appeared on the walls, and the man's desk fell apart amidst a shower of dust and splinters and red blood and pieces of a human body as everything in their line of fire deformed and disintegrated.

"The path is clear for the plan to proceed now. There will be little resistance to it. A new Führer - or rather, Führerin - will now be found. A strong Führerin. One much more willing to cooperate."

Within

The figure picked up yet another doll; one with long black hair and purple eyes. She examined it for a while.

"Hello, me."

Carefully placing it on the floor again, she picked up a doll with long, flowing white hair and purple buttons for eyes. A very thin white needle appeared in her other hand's fingers, and she pushed it firmly through the doll's heart. The wound did not bleed, for it immideately froze. The frost began to spread. One of the button eyes turned red.

???

"She's done something. I can feel it. Verdammt, she's done something..."

A girl with green eyes and hair looked up from a panel full of instruments. The clock on the wall showed midnight.

"...Done something? I can't see anyth- oh..."

"Have our barriers taken any damage?"

"No. But- what?"

"...What?"

"They've killed the Führer. This is the beginning of something ..." Her voice, faint with something like a shocked despair, trailed off.

"She's planning something. Go wake the others! Quickly!"

"Please tell me that she hasn't found us..."

Neu Königsberg, Reichskommissariat Neu Preußen, Antarktika

There was a large crowd gathered outside of the main administration building, which was a very large, white building built in the neoclassical style. There were bodies of dead soldiers at the gates, and above the tall gates, a young woman stood on a balcony, having flown through the doors behind her seconds ago. She raised an arm in the air and fired a few shots into the sky. The crowd at once fell silent.

"Attention, everyone!"

She cleared her throat.

"As should be plainly obvious to all of you, this is a military coup. We have secured this building and taken everybody inside it as hostages."

A murmur went around the crowd, which became louder. At that moment, a black staff car appeared on the square, performing a sharp handbrake turn which brought it to a halt. The front door swung open and a man jumped out.

"The Führer is dead!" he cried.

The crowd fell silent, as a man falls silent when his head falls to the ground. The woman on the balcony smiled.

"Well, then; it is time for us to make our way to the capital city."

???

"...So that's her plan. To put her in power. Come, quickly, follow me. Our only option is to kill all three of them. If we don't- if we don't, it will be us who will be destroyed instead; not to mention countless millions of innocent lives."

She picked up a large rifle, fitted with a powerful scope and a silencer; and handed similar weapons to her friends. They were stood in front of an inconspicous-looking civilian himmelkreuzer- and they would now take their one chance they had at stopping their opponent's plans. They did not have the option of delaying it further, for if they did, their base of operations would be discovered and they would all either be killed or captured.

While they had mostly succeeded in hindering her plans for the past several decades, they could not hide forever. With any luck, however, this would simply become another one of such plans.

by **National Socialist Korea** » Wed Jun 04, 2014 5:06 am

National Socialist Koreaball bounced into the room, with a pair of not so happy eyes. Before him were the other balls that were subservient to him: South Sericaball, Skaliaball, Koristaball, Grestiniaball, Bostaniaball and Grouseball. On the other corner of the room was Giga's Chibi Neko-musume Yuki-chan, fondling North Serica-chan.

"OK, lads... We have got much work to do.", declared NSKball.

"What is it? What is it, NSKball?", Grouseball asked.

"Shut up or I'll shoot you!", Bostaniaball said.

"Okeeeeh..."

"So, with the exception of North Serica, which will remain intact after this Retcon, everything else will never be the same again! First, all of you!"

"Yes, Ball!"

"You will be forced to go back to the level of 1950 civilian tech while having modern-day military and fiscal tech, understood?"

"Sounds Christian enough.", said Koristaball.

"YOU, KORISTABALL! YOU WILL BECOME THE AMALGAMATION OF LUZIYCA AND HITLER'S PRE-WAR GERMANY! UNDERSTOOD?"

"Wow. Sounds Christian enough." *trollface*

"Um..."

"YOU, SKALIABALL! YOU WILL IMITATE A DYSTOPIAN VERSION OF ZHOURAN AFTER YOU HAVE GIVEN BIRTH TO YOUR BASTARD! COMPREHENDO?"

"Y- Yes."

"BOSTANIABALL! GROUSEBALL!"

"What?"

"KEEP FIGHTING EACH OTHER TO THE DEATH! WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE SHOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOU!"

"Whatever."

"GRESTINIABALL!"

"I can haz parteh?"

"BE QUIET!"

"Okaaaay..."

"YOU! NORTH SERICAB- I MEAN, NORTH SERICA-CHAN!"

"Nyaa~?"

"Um... You're not a Polandball. Keep being yourself."

"Hauuu~!"

"YOU! SOUTH SERICABALL!"

"Wut?"

"ACT LIKE YOU'RE NAMOR, BUT MORE HELLISH!"

"Gotcha."

"OK, we get this movin' in once Skalia has given birth to the bastard child that will be told to base himself on US-installed dictatorships. Do we get everything now?"

"YUS, BALL."

"THEN GET YOUR NONEXISTENT ASSES UP AND MOVIN'! WE HAVE TAH FITE EACHOTHER!"

"What about you?"

"I GO TO SANCTUARY!"

NSKBall disappeared, the other balls shrugged and began shooting each other, while the two non-Balls continued with their adorable antics.

by **Horizont** » Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:35 pm

Hell Hath No Fury

???

The sound of rushing hooves on a dark forest road. The trees grew unnaturally tall, and a large red moon hung in the sky above. There was a thick mist and fog all around, but one could clearly hear a little girl shouting: "Faster, Faster!"

As well as the sound of rushing hooves and of the wheels of a carriage, there was a dull roar which came from among the trees. It was obvious that it was not made by a living thing, but rather something else entirely.

It came from behind her in the fog, flying just above the road as to avoid the trees on either side of it. It was an aircraft, quite antique-looking, powered by two jet engines and painted white on the top and black on the underside. It carried missiles, bombs, and was equipped with machine-guns and a giant cannon in the nose.

It fired one rocket straight at the girl, then pulled up gently. She ducked, and stretched out a hand as it passed overhead. Somehow, it altered its heading a little, now flying upwards- and it slammed into the underside of the jet as the jet flew overhead. There was a spectacular fireball, which for several moments illuminated everything around with a brilliant harsh light. Pieces of the aircraft continued on more or less their original heading, but they were simply burning chunks of metal soaked in aviation fuel; the ammunition exploded as it flew. All of the rockets ignited and shot upwards in something minicking a firework display.

The girl stood upright again, dusting off her frilly dress before checking a large box-shaped device which she carried in the coach with her. There was a panel with a few buttons and dials and a screen on it, and white stencilled writing on the top which read "TYPE II-B MAGI-FUSION EXPLOSIVE DEVICE. 500 MEGATON YIELD. MANUFACTURED AT LABORATORY 34, LUBLIN.". A doll sat on top of the device.

The device looked undamaged. She turned to the man driving the coach.

"How much longer?"

He studied a panel of instruments in front of him.

"Around ten minutes, milady."

"Excellent."

She removed something like an oversized golden pocket from her purse, opened it, and studied the dials inside intently.

Another roar came from behind her, and she spun round. She picked up an umbrella, in the same colour as her dress, and pointed it at the approaching craft. It fired a few shots from its cannon, but they missed; she fired a shot of energy from the umbrella, and it hit the cockpit. The aircraft pulled up sharply, and then didn't quite stop pulling up- it soon slammed into the ground behind them.

"Oh, try harder. You might even manage to scratch this thing's paint at this rate."

"Milady, I do believe that your mother will not be best pleased if the carriage is damaged..."

"It'll be fine. I don't honestly mind. This is too much fun~!"

Another aircraft came at them from the front. One of its engines exploded, sending it turning sideways into the trees where it cleared a new small clearing in another spectacular fireball.

Two came from behind. She tried to use her magic to push one into the other, but she couldn't; they were protected against magical attacks, evidently. So she picked up her umbrella again, and...

Jumped. She almost speared herself on the nose cannon of one of the aircraft, but instead ended up on its nose, pressed against the windscreen. She stared into the pilot's angered eyes, and she in turn looked at a face which grinned somewhat maniacally. She jumped backwards a little, and then came through the windscreen feet-first, shattering it and firing her umbrella at the pilot's head as she did so. The pilot - or at least her body - was struck dead immideately, and the girl looked up just in time to see the aircraft about to plow into the ground. She yanked the control stick towards her sharply, and the aircraft shot into the air.

"Whoa, whoa, steady! Who thought that this would be so difficult to control?!"

She eventually levelled off, and found herself heading straight for the other aircraft. The canopy was torn off and the two aircraft collided in a double spectacular fireball.

She landed in the carriage again, having been propelled forwards by the shockwave.

"We're almost here, milady."

She struggled with the heavy metal box, but eventually lifted it up to a point where it was about to fall onto the road. The coach turned abruptly, stopping next to a gigantic hole in the ground which seemed not to belong there. She pushed a button and let it fall- and then they sped away once again.

She licked her bloodied hand, a deep wound running along it.

"Revenge is sweet, is it not?"

Then the sky turned white, and so did the other surroundings, and the trees around them began to burn, and the moon began to fall, and the road began to shake, and the trees behind them began to collapse, and their horses ran faster and faster; there was a shockwave pursuing them, brightly illuminating the coat of arms engraved into the back of the carriage: an eagle with four wings and a large 'H' positioned in the center. Her white hair, stained red, blew frantically in the wind as she looked backwards at the oblivion of all things unfolding in front of her eyes. She grinned again.

"I will make sure you will never forget what you have done. I will make sure that you are forever remembered. I will make sure that you are remembered for the world you tried to shatter and for the sisters you tore apart."

There had been several more aircraft behind her, but they vanished into the blinding white light, never to be seen again; and with their loss, the world became better.

Eventually, the explosion behind them faded into nothingness, and the world became lonely once again. There was no more roaring amongst the trees, and even their horses seemed to keep as quiet as they could. The girl sat back in her seat, exhausted. She picked up the doll and pressed it close to her before closing her eyes, content.

But she was not content for long, for the wind began to pick up, and faces and clawed hands began to appear amongst the trees, and the clouds which had been dispersed by the explosion began to gather.

"So she shows herself at last." She whispered to the doll. A half-smile, half-frown appeared on her face. "Now I can extract my own bit of long-awaited revenge."

Leaves, sticks and dirt began to blow across the ground and into the sky. The leaves still on the trees rustled louder and louder. The mist closed in, and the temperature began to drop sharply.

"Come out; stop hiding. What does somebody as powerful as you have to fear from a mere child like me?"

Her eyes opened wide. She jumped up unnaturally high and performed several backflips in the air, before stopping the rotation as she reached the peak. Her umbrella unfolded automatically to serve as a shield, while a blade extended from the bottom of its handle. Another weapon appeared in her other hand- a flintlock with a bayonet so long attached to it that it ought to have counted as a sword.

She fired downwards at her opponent, only for the bullet to pass through her. And so she changed herself to be like her, and she became partly transparent and her colour faded to mostly white.

"You foolish child. You believe you are a match f-"

The doll, who had become similarly discolored, at that moment shot towards her like a bolt of lightning, a sword pointed towards her. She hit her in the abdomen, and caused a gaping wound; nevertheless, it healed moments later.

Angered, their opponent turned her attention towards the doll as well. A sword appeared in each of her hands also, and she reached opwards with one of them to meet the girl descending on her. Their swords clashed, and the girl swung around to land on her feet.

"Oh, indeed. Do you not recognise me?"

She jumped upwards, and their swords clashed again. The girl took the opporrunity to discharge a bullet towards her, but it missed. She landed on her feet again and pointed the umbrella towards her.

"This is nothing more than revenge, Zmeya."

The umbrella discharged blue lightning towards her, and she quickly contered it with her own lightning power. Their attacks met between them and produced a sea of shimmering sparks.

"Revenge for what you have done, while I was there and while I was not, to the two families I have considered myself a part of."

She concentrated harder, and the midpoint shifted towards Zmeya.

"I have not forgotten how you have tried to tear both of them apart."

The doll bounced on the tree-trunks and the ground, maintaining her great speed, before heading towards Zmeya once again. This time, she saw her coming, and swung a sword towards her. It almost took one of her arms, but she was quicker than that, and their swords clashed, swinging the doll upwards, where she swung her sword at her opponent's head. She dodged the attack, but she grabbed onto her hair and used it to swing to her other side, where she tried to stab her in her side. This time she succeeded, and another wound appeared.

Zmeya broke off the lightning attack and leaped out of the way of the incoming lightning, before swiping at the doll- succeeding only in slicing her own hair.

Something within her seemed to awake. It had slept for hundreds of years. Old gears and dials creaked, painfully at first, into motion.

Her hand seemed to teleport and appear around the doll, clutching it. It tore her away from the hair she was still clutching, which fell away. The lightning shot towards her, but she moved out of harm's way in an instant.

"You rely on such cheap tricks."

The doll's sword stabbed into her wrist, and she had to let go. While she was distracted, the lightning hit her and sent her flying towards the floor in a puff of smoke. The girl approached her and put a foot on her chest, her sword pointed at her throat. The doll hopped upwards and sat on her shoulder.

"You have lost. My powers are amplified by the suffering you have caused me. Do not bother me again. I will not hesitate to do worse."

Anher burned in her eyes, pure saturated hate at what this wretch had done.

"I will split you into three, you snake."

With that, she plunged the sword into her chest, and walked away towards the coach, towards home, towards a lovely steaming hot cup of tea after spending too long in this awful place.

Something had begun to awaken.

"Oh, hello~! I'm alive~!"

by **Gigaverse** » Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:07 pm

(Italic parts outside of quotation marks are thoughts.)

The Holy Order of Saint Lucius is considered the greatest of Knight Orders in the vast domain of the Holy Imperium of Man. However, none knows too much about the man who they worship as "Saint Lucius".

I, on the other hand, have met that man.

I still remember the day when I met him. It was raining. The village burnt wildly, and there were few villagers left, mourning for their families; which included me: Milthea Sobarica.

Flashbacks of that day appeared on her mind. She could still recall it quite vividly. The smokes, the smell of blood... The bloody war that stamped on the country where she used to live...

"This man is alive! Get him on the cart!", a soldier's voice said, picking up a body and throwing it to the cart.

The war came about between the Domestrian Empire and the Kingdom of Vassalia, when an usurper of the throne appeared in the former country. Said usurper then mobilized his army for an attack against the latter entity, which left for some of the most disastrous war to have ever taken place - at least, by local standards.

I was at a loss. Nobody would guide me what to do again. I was a 5-year-old girl, and my parents... were gone for good.

"Hey, little girl? Want to join us for some fun?"

Now that I look back, the system of the Kingdom was already decadent. The soldiers, who rather look like pigs that cannot fight properly, are more skirt-chasers than actual fighters.

At that moment, however... I met him.

In front of the girl, the fat man in armor dwarfing her tiny size fell to the ground on his back. Someone else, a figure in black, with a long, blond ponytail, stood tall before her. Even to the soldier who "fell asleep" just then, that figure towered him. For a 5-year-old, it seemed like something akin to a nightmare.

The dark figure squatted down quickly. She was far too frightened to even attempt running away. Behind his blond hair, the "left" half of his face was visible to her. An especially enchanting color of blue in his iris was what she could see; something that calmed her down somewhat.

"This house... is it yours?"

She looked behind her, then looked back at the man. The girl tried to hold her tears as best as she could, and responded with a nod.

Her eyes finally began watering. His hand reached for her cheeks, the black leather glove that covered his palm wiped the tears from her cheek.

"Do you have anywhere left to go to?"

She shook her head. Her house, her parents, her favorite doll... Everything was burnt down by the enemy arsonists. War was a normal thing by local standards, but to think that she became a first-hand victim...

The man stood up. His hand grabbed that of the little girl, as they both began to walk away from the burning house.

"Don't let what already happened get to you, sweetie. You're safe.", he said, using his other hand to rub her dark-blue hair.

That day, the girl was taken in and raised by "the gigantic man", as she put it.

I began calling him everything ever since. From "Papa" to "Onii-tan"... The little girl I was couldn't have settled with a way to call him.

But... I grew attached to him. On that first day without my parents, he became somewhat like both of them. He fed me, taught me everything, raised me... to become...

"Ah. Traitor Knight of Acrodon. Couldn't believe you could have gotten your hands on so many cuties~", a light-blue-haired young man with a shark-fin-like stumble of hair sticking out of his head, said with the greatest of glee.

"Your incompetent Holy Order does not reserve the right to label me a Traitor. You, who betrayed the philosophies of the Order's Founding Fathers, are the worthless scum that requires my cleansing."

"DON'T TALK BIG, FUGITIVE KNIGHT!"

A fierce battle broke out, right in front of the house on the mountain, where I thought he, every of the other girls he had with him, and me, could live a relatively peaceful life.

But I wasn't a little girl anymore.

"... Papa... I have considered... and... I want you to make me into a Dame!"

The blond-haired man, who was drinking coffee, almost spit everything out. He gulped it down, then responded:

"No."

"But Papa-"

"One day, you will understand what I am saying, Milthea. I can teach you how to be one, but I WILL NOT LET YOU BECOME ONE. Is that clear?"

He walked away, ignoring her plea of becoming a Dame.

And despite that, he would let me train. In fact, he would personally help me. I became a Dame in all but name. I started to go with him into battles. I can kill a massive monstrosity single-handed, and yet...

"The survivability of a Knight is 0.0001%, while that of a Dame is 0.1%. While I know that you want to become a Dame, I will not hold a formal dubbing ceremony."

He put his hand on her shoulder.

"But, Milthea... You had the spirit. You will make a fine Dame."

That alone was enough for me.

And then, yet another fateful day came... The day he knew was coming...

"Master... Are you sure about this?"

"What is it not to be sure about?"

He turned his head to her, giving her a confident look.

"Milthea, I've prepared everything you and the others would need for the years to come. I've entrusted the possibilities to suitable people. Even without me, you'll do fine on your own."

He walked away, his black long-coat flying in the wind. The dark-blue-haired girl tried to reach out for him, but to no avail...

And now, here I am.

The Academy where he was studying at.

After the introduction, she, the new student, walked to a desk near him. She sat there, quietly, taking the same lessons as his. She took everything well, but something else entirely was on her mind and in her heart...

Master... Papa... I've lived 12 more years since that day without losing my will, thanks to you... But seeing you in the guise of this normal 17-year-old ordinary High-school student pains me...

Please, my Knight... Wake up from your slumber...

by **Mefpan** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 1:36 am

THURSDAY, 14 MARCH 2013: COUNCIL CITADEL AUDIENCE CHAMBER, CITY OF LOREL, MEMENTON

"So, to summarize what you told me, you are the leader of an oppressive, authoritarian state that sought to violate the boundaries and peace of an entirely different realm solely to hunt down and punish a former associate of yours for what you perceive to be desertion?"

"You changed the phrases, old man, but yes, that is essentially correct."

"And you demand that we now let you go free and aid you in capturing that subject, regardless of whether or not we consider him guilty?"

"Yes."

"Are you aware that the Order of Tarnhill has begun a large-scale mobilization unlike anything we have seen ever before and that we have no idea where these troops are despite the fact that they keep piling them into the City of Tarnhill? Your story leads us to believe that whatever you tried failed miserably and-"

She laughed. "Obviously, old man. Otherwise I would not be standing before you."

In front of her, a blonde woman in heavy armor adjusted her glasses and leaned forward over the desk she sat behind. "If I may, I believe the Head Councillor is trying to imply that a stable condition now exists between your state and the very heart of the Order's power. If that is true, then your concerns lie elsewhere entirely. Barring a miracle, your realm is doomed."

She turned towards the blonde woman. "Very interesting. Do I now find myself at your mercy, hoping to convince you to provide such a miracle?"+

"Yes."

She laughed again. "I told you who I am. Do you remember what I told you? I am the Grand Castellan of Mefpan, Wilhelmina von Wagnerberg. I have ruled this state for nearly one hundred and fifty years, in part from the shadows, in part publicly. I spent each and every single one of these years to prepare this state for war. War. War on a scale unlike anything you have ever seen and war unlike something you will ever be capable of surviving. Our armies are numerous, our armies are powerful - so tell me, what does this 'Order' you speak of have, old man?"

Again, the armored woman chose to speak. "I believe I can answer that more clearly, considering I am likely the one in here with the best understanding of technology. The Order of Tarnhill has little in the ways of respect for nature. Their troops are equipped with powerful suits of armor that prove nearly impenetrable to arrow, bolt, spear or sword. Their acolytes are almost exclusively equipped with rifles that although crude and of inferior craftsmanship can fire bullets at a terrifying rate. They command an immense number of metal golems that likewise wield powerful weaponry - despite the fact that they do not use magic, they wield fire and lightning with frightening proficiency. Even with our powers, containing them would be immensely-"

"Assault rifles. Mechanized combat exoskeletons. Flamethrowers. Tesla weaponry. Is that all?"

"What?"

"I am asking if that is all they have. Machine guns. Anti-tank artillery. Napalm bombs. Nuclear weaponry. That is what we have. How many of the Order are there?"

"...h...how many?"

"Their population. I desire to know how many lives will be extinguished if this war you speak of really exists."

The tiny childlike frame of a doll jerked to life and jumped off the row of desks in front of Wilhelmina, made a few steps towards her and spun around its own axis for a few times before stopping to face the assembled Council. "I LIKE THIS WOMAN'S ATTITUDE."

"SILENCE, KAIRAISEISHOU. You are delusional if you honestly believe to be able to defeat The Order so easily, regardless of what you claim your nation to be capable of!"

"I believe I neglected to mention the armored vehicles."

THURSDAY, 14 MARCH 2013: CITY OF TARNHILL, MEMENTON

The castle walls exploded into rubble as they yielded before the destructive power of a 200mm shell loaded with cluster munitions that in turn continued on and shredded the force of acolytes that had been taking up defensive positions on the bridge behind it - the energy field that was supposed to keep them penned in flickered and sparked out, the sheer force of the blast having fried the field projectors.

A heavy PURGE-17 howitzer pushed forward through the hole, hostile small arms fire harmlessly bouncing off it as it advanced down the bridge, crushing several Order acolytes under its tracks without stopping.

THURSDAY, 14 MARCH 2013: COUNCIL CITADEL AUDIENCE CHAMBER, CITY OF LOREL, MEMENTON

"...I fail to see why you care so much about this Order. As far as you have been telling me, you hate it. If it is so troublesome, why not just destroy it?"

"H AVE I MENTIONED THAT THIS WOMAN IS A PERSON I CAN RESPECT?"

"You are truly mad if you believe we would see the demon we know destroyed if we do not know what devil will replace the vacuum it leaves behind. If you are that devil, then I will rather choose the lesser demon."

"A pitiful choice, old man. If Tarnhill has indeed initiated hostilities, they will be seen through until their natural conclusion."

"You are your state's leader.I can end this conflict right here if I so desire."

Wilhelmina smirked and laid her hand upon her sabre. All around her, the sound of swords being drawn from their scabbards could be heard. "On the contrary, old man, if I so desire I can plunge this world into anarchy and chaos because the whole Council is here. And then? Go ahead, I can die. I can come back. I will come back. How else do you believe a human with no powers other than an indomitable will has survived over one hundred and fifty years?"

"You are not doing yourself a favor by threatening us. Even so...gods curse you. What do I need to do to get you out of my hair and stop this war?"

She scoffed. "Well, you have proven less than profitable for my aims - so you desire peace?"

"Yes. State your terms."

"Full reparations for the damages caused by the Order of Tarnhill. Introduction of the concept of magic to my state - from what I have heard, a very useful ability. A persistent connection between my state and this world. And I wish to stay informed about the decisions of this Council."

"Preposterous! You ask far too m-"

"The dominant effects of a nuclear weapon (the blast and thermal radiation) are the same physical damage mechanisms as conventional explosives, but the energy produced by a nuclear explosive is millions of times more per gram and the temperatures reached are in the tens of megakelvins. Nuclear weapons are quite different from regular weapons because of the huge amount of explosive energy they can put out and the different kinds of effects they make, like high temperatures and nuclear radiation.

The devastating impact of the explosion does not stop after the initial blast, as with regular explosives. A cloud of nuclear radiation travels from the epicenter of the explosion, causing an impact to life forms even after the heat waves have ceased. The radiation can cause genetic mutation, radiation poisoning, and death."

"I...I will contact the Order's High Priest. As for the other conditions, I will s-"

A young blonde girl in purple dress stood up and stepped forward. "High Councillor, I believe it may be for the best to have a Talespinner accompany this woman for the foreseeable future - it would certainly cover her demands of staying informed about the happenings in these halls. Before Kairaiseishou volunteers, I would rather suggest that my sister and I be tasked with that particular task."

"Mokuji, you are far too soft for such an assignment."

"High Councillor, if anything, my sister is patient. Oh, certainly, there is someone here who would not be offended by this woman's claims, but if she is as ruthless as she presents herself then I am unsure whether it would be a prudent decision to assign Little Miss Genocide and Fangs to her when they'd be just as likely to completely eradicate some third party together and have a spot of tea in the aftermath. Mirabel is, well, no offense, Mira, but you are more used to burning armies to a crisp - not exactly what we need on such a mission."

The red-headed woman nodded and gave a knowing smile. "No worries, Tsuya. I agree. It would lead to a diplomatic incident minutes after I left with her."

"There is Knightsbri-"

The blonde woman shook her head, waving off the Councillor's suggestion. "I suggest you do send the Mokuji sisters along. I am still unsure whether I want to bisect this woman with a sword, cleave her in two with an axe or smash her into dust with a hammer. Her attitude...is lacking."

Wilhelmina smirked. So much for the united front this Council had been trying to show. Well, almost, at least. These Talespinners seemed intent on undermining the actual Council whenever possible. "Well, it is settled, then?"

"It is. Get out. OUT! I cannot believe I am saying this. Mokujis, go with her - the rest of the Talespinners, you are dismissed."

The Talespinners stood up and left the room, Tama and Tsuya Mokuji walking over to the Mefpanian dictator and leading her back outside. Inside the chamber remained the Council.

"...you yielded to her. How could you yield to someone this arrogant?! She could not have forced through her threats."

"Do not pretend that you did not feel this abomination's presence. Her chance for victory was almost zero in one instance - but this abomination is infinite in its very being. Words are lacking to express it, but...not even Kairaiseishou is terrifying in this manner. Kairaiseishou can be stopped, as difficult as that may be. If this woman ever becomes truly determined, her infinite instances of almost zero will eventually overlap until they approach one. This may be the least dissatisfactory outcome."

FRIDAY, 15 MARCH 2013: CITY OF TARNHILL, MEMENTON[

One of the Mokuji sisters gasped in disbelief as they approached the city of Tarnhill. Clouds of smoke obscured the skies and there was a distinct feeling of death in the air, if such a thing existed. It was more than just a scent of decay, it came much closer to a law of nature that dictated life itself should not exist in this place any longer. A sole metal giant towered over the buildings, firing at something hidden behind the burning structures.

"...that is one of the Order's Inquisitors. Nightmarish creations, unfeeling steel that has yet to be defeated. What, by the gods, are you, to make them unleash such a force?", the Talespinner that had in the meantime introduced herself as 'Tama Mokuji' asked.

Wilhelmina did not answer. Instead, there was a deafening volley of detonations and five bursts of fire erupted on the iron titan's hull, causing it to jerk and stagger backwards before it fell forward onto its knees where it remained dormant until another volley of fire tore its torso to shreds.

"For all their imposing size, these machines do not seem durable at all. You said you wield magic - if magic is important enough here to cause technological stagnation on such a massive scale, I presume it to be at least as powerful as what you have seen unfold here or it would be utterly pointless to wield it. This leaves the possibility that you cannot use magic in this area."

"...we do not know for certain. It is a possibility."

"The only one, if this aggressive Order has not made an attempt to expand despite, as you claim, being completely impervious to magic."

The Talespinner that had been introduced as 'Tsuya' scoffed and quickened her pace. The other two followed suit to keep up with her. It wouldn't be long until they reached the city of Tarnhill.

FRIDAY, 15 MARCH 2013: COUNCIL CITADEL AUDIENCE CHAMBER, CITY OF LOREL, MEMENTON

The man's fingers tapped impatiently as well as angrily against his desk, spreading the scent of burning wood as bolts of lightning arced and twisted between his fingers and the agonized piece of wood. He was facing an irate High Priest who had, for the better part of an hour, given to him what was the mixture of a normal rant and a thinly veiled attempt at religious conversion; so in other words, everything was normal. A tiny part of him questioned whether they really couldn't just let the Order disappear.

"What do you mean the you outright reject all notions of peace, High Priest?"

"These foreign interlopers have disrupted, have assaulted our innermost sanctum, they have as untouchables set foot on places where only the highest-ranking members may tread and you demand that we do not punish the interlopers?!"

"You don't stand a cha-"

"The Order will destroy these interlopers! We will make an example of them and demonstrate what happens when we are assaulted with such a blatant disregard for our sovereignty and our faith!"

"I am afraid you are not yet capable of destr-"

"Their soldiers and people will be killed, their war machines annihilated and their leaders offered in sacrifice to the One; never again will someone believe himself superior to th-"

A new voice broke through the High Priest's tirade, haughty and proud, with a hint of mischief in it - between the two arguing men, a white-haired woman had appeared, half of her face obscured by a smirking mask with a small opening for her to look through, however. Her eyes seemed to radiate green light that illuminated the High Priest's frail body, a half-rotten wreck of a shell that might at one point have been a healthy human being.

"Oh, shut up, Heretic Priest. You have no idea what they are capable of."

"Hereti-"

"You have never even once set your eyes on the battle personally, have you?"

"That is unnecc-"

"You have been lying about this city of Tarnhill holding your precious Order's innermost sanctum in a hopeless attempt to garner sympathy in these halls. Am I wrong?"

"How dare you accuse me of decei-"

"All to protect your dying faith to a false god."

The High Priest's eyes widened as the newcomer grinned, the facial expression on her mask changing to fit the toothy smile she threw at the High Priest. The words rolled off her tongue again as if savoring the taste of blaspheming against a divine entity.

"...false god."

He snarled and threw himself at the white-haired woman who just side-stepped his slow attack. She spun around to face him again, now positively ecstatic over mocking this once-a-man's belief. She let loose again, the words flowing off her tongue with a tone of satisfaction in them that few could ever hope to match.

"False god!"

The High Priest spun around in utter rage and roared with a ferocity unbecoming of his frail body as he threw a punch at this heathen's face. She did not even make an attempt to evade his blow. His fist met her face with the sound of thunder and a thick red mist blew outwards from the epicenter, the oppressive smell of blood flooding through the halls.

FRIDAY, 15 MARCH 2013: CITY OF TARNHILL, MEMENTON[

The first noteworthy thing they saw when they entered the city was the apparent lack of dead trench-coated soldiers, whereas the streets were littered with the bodies of mutilated acolytes. A turned-over mech lay on the city square, twitching ineffectively as its arms and legs had been reduced to molten stumps even though it persevered in its attempts to stand back up, unaware of the fact it no longer possessed the limbs necessary to do so - a few soldiers stood guard nearby wtih a PURGE-17 Sturmhaubitze, apparently waiting for its energy charge to run out to take it at least somewhat intact. The three of them walked up to the first soldier of the group - he recognized Wilhelmina and gave an expression of shock, happiness, fear and unease before they could say anything.

"...Mi-milady Castellan! You are alive? I...I mean, you are alive! Quick, quick - follow me, Lady von Seckendorff will be delighted to hear that you are well a-and back with us!"

"What of Subject #4859? Has its body been found?"

"Uh...no trace of he...it, I mean. We have no idea where sh- it went. C-come, please, Milady. Lady von Seckendorff has been waiting for you for the last few days."

"Of course. Is this your first frontline mission, soldier?"

"Y-yes, Milady."

"Very well. That is still no excuse for being so incredibly spineless, though I will let it slide for now."

The soldier gulped and motioned for them to follow him as he headed over to what seemed to be an old, bombed-out town hall.

FRIDAY, 15 MARCH 2013: COUNCIL CITADEL AUDIENCE CHAMBER, CITY OF LOREL, MEMENTON

The High Priest laid curled up on the floor, clutching his profusely bleeding arm as he screamed out his soul in utter torment. What had just happened? He struck this abominable heathen that was now standing above his wounded figure and a burst of energy had surged through his arm and split it along the middle, not entirely unlike how a bolt of lightning split a tree in half. And the bleeding wasn't stopping! Oh, One, the bleeding wasn't stopping!

The white-haired woman crouched down and smiled at the broken man before her.

"So then, tell me, Heretic Priest! Where. Is. Your. God. Now?! Where is 'the One', the one that is meant to gift you with power unimaginable, with power enough to destroy all opposition in your path?! Where is this sleeping false god that will not wake to prevent the violation of its followers?! Where..is it?!"

"...who...who are you?"

"I am Morgane Ezaya 'Fallacy Paranoia' Abberie Nevermore, patron deity of those 'interlopers' of yours."

The Councilor in the room gasped, drawing attention to himself.

"Excuse me, but this woman, Wilhelmina, clearly elaborated that there is no magic in her world. How could a god persist there? How ancient are you?"

"Asking a woman about her age? I thought you'd be more polite than that. Regardless, I am two-hundred and thirteen years old yet I existed for roughly half a day. Does that answer satisfy?"

"It will do. But what do you believe you are doing here and now?"

"Ending this war. This mockery of a man is what stands in the way of that, is it not?"

by **Gigaverse** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:08 pm

Erik Johannes Eugen Reinhardt. His autobiography said he was a Brazilian of full-blooded German descent, born in the South of the Amazon's thick jungles. He was drafted into the Holy Order of Saint Lucius - the most powerful in the Imperium - by age 16. Recently gained autonomy for his own sub-order - which, of course, was subservient to the Imperium first, the Golden Crown second and the Holy Order third.

Despite that established history and hierarchy, that apparently wasn't all that was really behind him.

The train continued along, as Erik looked outside at the scenery. His mind was, for some reason, both empty and full of thoughts at the same time. He couldn't tell what was actually happening to his head. He stared at the night clouds, and frowned.

"My Lord... What do you think could have killed Governor Kazuma?"

"Old age; as to expect of the grumpy old traditionalist man."

"... traveling to New Odessa is the first step to expanding our Order of Reinhardt?"

"I would say 'improving', not 'expanding'."

"Is it also... to accomplish the mission handed to you by the Council?"

Erik didn't respond to the last question. He sighed, and instead chose a different topic:

"Tell me when we get near Melancholia."

"Almost, My Lord. 15 minutes."

New Odessa Port, Holy Melancholian Gubernatorial Federation

At last, the train stopped at New Odessa Military Train Station, after its long travel from Vladivostok. A man in noble's clothing came to where Erik was standing.

"You must be exhausted from this journey, Grand Master Reinhardt?"

"Thank you, Sire. I had my drink back at Vladivostok. It's a pleasure to be here."

"We came here to greet you, Lord Reinhardt, in behalf of the Order of Aaron. I am Duke Michael Velaines, an Aaronic Sentinel."

"I thank you for your hospitality, Sire. I am Erik Reinhardt, Grand Master of the Order of Reinhardt. But you are probably already aware?"

"The Holy Order assigned you as the new Governor of Melancholia, and referendum came to the conclusion that the high echelons, the hierarchy of Knights and the locals approve of your becoming Governor."

"Is that so? I will try not to disappoint and lose the trust of the people and my colleagues."

Erik Reinhardt and Michael Velaines bowed to each other - an especially Asiatic gesture, given their European clothing.

"Shall I lead you on the streets of this Federation?"

"Please do, Sire. I'm still new and a stranger."

"Come. The horse carriage awaits."

by **Gigaverse** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 9:12 pm

The Eastern Country
September, 1867 H.E.

"Not so long, boys... Our Revolution for a place to call home... will start!"

Vault said, looking into the red sky, that proud grin appearing on his face. At the stream, near the waterfall, Vault had made his intention clear to his fellow mercenaries. A new world was about to be born...

That moment, a figure in black cloak approached the crowd of mercenaries.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"I think I reserve the right to step through unclaimed nature, peasant. Step aside."

"Who do you think you are? Some kind of nobility?"

"I said: STEP. ASIDE."

"Don't be insolent, asshole!"

The mercenaries rushed at the tall figure with the cloak, their swords readied to swing. Before they knew it, however, each and every single one of them who dared attack had their heads severed, lying on the dried leaves.

"What happened... here?"

Vault rushed to see what was happening away from him. All he could observe were the guards for the meeting - dead, and a mysterious figure clad in full shining armor and a black cloak. His eyes were not visible, only the lower half of his face.

"You... did this?", Vault asked.

"Teach your men some manners. Next time, when a man in a black cloak appears and tell them to stay clear of his path, they must. Otherwise, they'd end up like this."

"Maste-", a mercenary pulled out his sword, but Vault stopped him.

"Halt. Yes, we all got each other's intention, didn't we?"

"No, I don't think I got your intention yet. But rest assured... I won't be interfering with whatever you are doing."

"Good. Then I suppose now is the time we make haste and let you continue your journey, stranger?"

"That will be alright."

The black cloaked figure started walking a few steps, before he stopped, turned back and began asking:

"Who are you all? What is your name?"

"We? Heh. We are the Schwartzhund Mercenary Company. I am Vault Schwartzhund, the leader."

"... well then... I bid you farewell, Vault Schwartzhund. Remember... your Company's misadventures have only just begun..."

The figure in black cloak laughed hysterically, before disappearing into thin air, leaving behind no traces of him...

"Master Vault, who do you think this man is?"

"I don't know. I attempted to recruit him, but it seemed that was an outright dismissal. Well, it was only one person. One person cannot stop our Revolution."

Vault looked at the darkening sky, smirking. Half a year later would be the perfect time...

by **Gigaverse** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:32 pm

Minamoto Nobunaga
Shugo of Oshima Province, Zipannia

June 12th, 142 H.E.
Battle of Kogazama; Oshima Province, Zipannia
1730 Hours

With literally a thousand men already fallen on his sides, Nobunaga's first battle proved to be a difficult one. Not only did the enemy outnumbered his forces ten to one, they already burnt down the shrine that belonged to his family. His enemies were still on the lookout, and more than half of the remainders after the battle at the shrine were also destroyed completely.

Marching through the forest, Nobunaga held the hilt of his blade, his face frowning, his teeth gritting. There was very clear and intense hatred from him.

Bastards... They even employ the help of hideous Ogres... How could this battle possibly be won with my forces so thinned out!

... no. I'll definitely get my vengeance. I will personally destroy them. Oshima shall NOT fall!

... was what he thought until the chunk of the forest near him exploded.

"Lord Shugo!"

"I can see that! Make it to the coast, quickly!"

Artillery blasts continued, shaking the grounds and blowing craters into sides of the forest. By the time Nobunaga's forces reached the coast, large numbers of his men were already dead by enemy long-range artillery.

But it didn't end there.

"Shugo Nobunaga! Our ships are on fire!"

"It's an ambush! Quickly, kill them all!"

A fierce battle took place, between Nobunaga's remnant and the ship arsonists. Eventually, the latter were all killed, with a cost of men for Nobunaga to pay.

"Our ships are burnt... Our armies are vanquished... There was no hope for this Province in the first place..."

"No hope, you say? What is hope? It's lost a long time ago."

"Being captured by our enemy is the greatest shame! Hurry, my Lord, we must commit Seppuku!"

"Hara-kiri? Go die yourself."

Once everything was said and done, Nobunaga swung his blade. The head of the man who suggested Seppuku fell to the ground.

"Any wiser suggestions?"

His army stood there, motionless. Suddenly, a figure approached them. A black piece of armor. Not of Asien design, but rather, Europan. The armor's helmet had a visor, which was glowing red inside. A dark aura spread from the armor.

"Who are you? Another of Taira Yoshimoto's lackeys?"

"No... I am willing to be YOUR lackey, Lord Minamoto Nobunaga."

A slightly shocked expression appeared on Nobunaga's face.

"Come again?"

"I am offering this contract to you, Lord Nobunaga: sacrifice something dear to you, and in return, you will be able to defeat your enemy."

The armor pointed to his army. Nobunaga raised his blade just in case.

"How am I supposed to trust you?"

"Observe the situation, young Shugo. Your decoy army was decimated for naught, your main army is quartered, you just killed your own advisor, your ships were burnt, and the enemies are cornering both your men and your province. Which is dearer? Choose wisely."

Nobunaga froze for a second.

What is this? I am being offered a way out, but at a cost... Why this? My men, or my hometown? I've been with them for such a long tim-

"Lord Shugo! Sacrifice us!"

One of the Samurais knelt down to Nobunaga.

"Heh?"

"We are only farmers with no use other than being your most loyal army... Now, whether we surrender or kill ourselves, we will still be destroyed, but more importantly, our wives, children, unborn children and their children will be in grave danger! Please, my Lord, for the sake of Oshima... Sacrifice us!"

The other men were shocked, at first. A moment past, and they all began bursting into tears, kneeling to their Shugo.

"SACRIFICE US!", they said in sync.

"Lord Nobunaga... Now is the time. I can hear the Ogres' footsteps on the horizon..."

Nobunaga himself also cried. He then bowed to his men, and said:

"Men! It has been an honor for me to fight with you! I promise to you all, that your sacrifices will not be forgotten, nor be in vain! Your names shall be sung by thousands of generations to come! Black Armor, I accept your contract!"

"Very well then..."

The soldiers suddenly grabbed their throats in pain, before blood spurted out of their mouths, and they lied in agony. Nobunaga held his fist tightly and looked away - he couldn't bear to look at his most loyal men dying in such a fashion.

An Ogre's shadow appeared behind the armor. The armor's visor turned violet, as it spoke with echos:

"Minamoto Nobunaga, your wish of being able to destroy your enemies... WILL COME TRUE."

1900 Hours
Taira Yoshimoto's Camp

"That fool Nobunaga... he thought he could stand against me. His army died the most pathetic of deaths, and I am steps away from becoming not just Lord Shugo of Oshima, but the entire Eastern Country! Bwahahahaha!"

As he bit on the rib-bone, Yoshimoto felt that the meat had no taste at all. Something so strange, since only a moment ago, the tasteless meat still had seasonings.

"Hey, what happened to the meat?"

The Samurai guard next to him stood up, pointing his index finger at Yoshimoto.

"Hey! I'm asking! What's happening!"

The guard dropped his helmet, unsheathed his blade, and pointed it at Yoshimoto. The Samurai lord was flabbergasted, to say the least.

"N... Nobunaga?"

The eyes of the "guard" slowly turned blood red, while he gave Yoshimoto a disturbing smirk.

"The fool... is you, Yoshimoto. YOU LOST. I, WON."

A violet symbol of a phoenix appeared on his left eye. Yoshimoto could feel his throat burning. He grabbed it, and scratched it until it started to bleed, but it didn't help.

"YOU POISONED THE FOOD...!"

"It is only your imagination, Taira Yoshimoto. Sleep tight - you are unworthy of being my enemy, filthy pig."

Yoshimoto crawled on the ground, trying to grab Nobunaga's leg. The man stood still, his eyes seemingly staring deep into the human-shaped pig's soul. Yoshimoto saw that as Nobunaga mocking him, spitting on him, grieving the deaths of innocents and telling him to stay away from not Oshima, but everything and everyone.

His eye sockets heated up. In fact, he could feel his entire body heating up. He couldn't control anything. Yoshimoto then died in a pool of his own blood, saliva spilling in.

Nobunaga kicked the body away in disgust to a corner of the tent.

"Lord Shugo? Eastern Country? You will forever be an unaccomplished swine, Taira Yoshimoto."

by **Gigaverse** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 11:16 pm

Why is it? Why is it that even when I sold my own self away, the pain would not disappear? Why must I suffer from this injustice?

His tears streamed down from his eyes. Droplets of water fell to his thighs. He held his face, an indescribable agony was all he could feel.

Ah, right... Because the pain is not physical at all. It is a mental scar, and forevermore...

December 26th, Imperial Year 141
Shibatsue City, Higashinada Province

By making a contract with a mysterious giant of a man... I am now barely the human I used to be.

Those days... are gone. My best friend in High-school is dead. I wasn't even able to protect the best friend I already had in Junior High.

And more importantly, my family. My entire family. Anyone remotely related by blood to me... Anyone who had the possibility as being adult parental figures to me. Anyone capable of giving me the familial bond...

Taking that contract made me an outwardly better man. But, now that I look back, my life took a turn for the worse, and I am even worse as a man than I was some months ago...

What should I do now? All I have is a mysterious organization that I helped establish... and a former-sex-slave best friend...

"Hideki!"

A voice echoed in his ears. Hideki turned back to see whose familiar voice was it. It was Kuroneko (a nickname based on her real name, and not the leather clothes she was wearing or the short magenta hair she sported) - "the best friend he failed to protect". Her voice was rushed. Something seemed wrong about that.

"Is there urgent news?"

"I guess... this is more important for you, Hideki. You must come to the city hospital. Now."

"An emergency? I'll check it."

What could possibly be so urgent that Kuroneko would rush me like this?

Shibatsue Hospital, Room 194

"No... This cannot be happening... No... NO! NO! NOOOO!"

Hideki knelt in front of the room, his eyes staring inside, his mouth wide opened and distorted. He was speechless after that.

He thought he had nothing left.

He thought he had nobody else.

He thought his entire family was history.

And then, his misconceptions came to hit him in the face. Reality just punched him in such a way that even though the fist wasn't physical, it could be felt.

Lying on the bed, inside the room, was his dearest younger sister.

Somehow, despite the doctors having all fled, the staff nowhere to be found, the patients being nonexistent and the food-supply around her not necessarily full, the black-haired girl in hospital gown continued to cling on to life. Her weak heartbeats were still being monitored by the machines all the time. I-V therapy was still being continued, but it was going to run out. Very soon.

"They probably abandoned the hospital recently. Maybe it's because of the regime chang-"

"Those fucking bastards... They dare call themselves doctors when they leave their patients to die like this..."

He went inside the room, kneeling beside the bed where his sister was lying.

"I promise... If I find them, I WILL make them feel the pain she's going through...", his eyes watered. He looked at his sister's face. She was still young, and yet, there she was, hospitalized.

"Hideki... You know, your sister can be brought to Sakahara-san's hospital for treatment. Don't let the irresponsible Imperial doctors get to you, Hideki."

He wiped the tears off his face, and gave Kuroneko a look before turning back to his ailing sister.

"You're right, Kuro-chan. I'm sorry for the harsh language... Maybe, just maybe, my sister can be saved... Thank you."

She went inside, her hands giving him a big hug.

"You don't have to thank me, Hideki. We're family now. What are families for, right?"

Family... No, Kuroneko... Don't call me by that word... If you... You call me family... You will die...

Please, no more deaths... Don't give me the love I don't deserve... Leave me...

He thought of those things inside his head. But his mouth couldn't open, and he couldn't speak his heart. He only let her embrace him in her warm heart. His eyes were filled with melancholy, as the young man continued to cry on the inside.

And it wouldn't be his last time.

by **Gigaverse** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 3:37 am

Zophia Myleanna Pyotreau
Wife of the (late) Leader of Skalia

May 14th, 2014 (Local Calendar)
Governorate of Serica
0700 Hours

Zophia sat down on the sofa and sighed, wrapped in only two towels. While she had to admit that the bathwater was incredibly relaxing, she couldn't help but wonder...

Why was she there?

What was the reason behind her family suddenly moving to a faraway land?

That question clouded her mind, up until she stepped outside of the guesthouse. Her apparent host, Minamoto Hideki, was already standing in front of the house, apparently waiting for her.

"Mr. Minamoto?"

"I think... you'd have to calm yourself down after this."

Yet again, the poor mother bent her knees and fell to the ground, breaking into tears. Two days ago, her husband was still healthy. He was still trying to apologize to her, and yet...

"I'm sorry for your loss, Zophia."

"... he was the one... who prepared all of this... for us?"

"Yes... But that's beyond the point. Zophia, you must get over this."

"How can I... How could I..."

"I understand, young mother. But this is not the time to grief yet. Consider this: you're doing your husband one last favor. Your happiness was what he cared about, do NOT lose it, or all he's done will be for naught."

Zophia desperately wanted to hold herself at that moment. If only her husband was there, he'd give her a hug to cool her down. It won't be the same without him anymore.

"If you feel that everything is unfair..."

Hideki stretched his arms, giving Zophia the hug she was supposed to receive. The mother cried as much as she could, unable to hold herself.

"... why... why us? Why must it... come down to this...?", she said with hiccups, her voice trembling.

"Cry all you want, Zophia. Cry all you want.", was all Hideki could say.

That became a considerable turn in Zophia's life.

by **Gigaverse** » Sun Jun 08, 2014 1:30 am

December 28th, Imperial Year 141
Shibatsue City, Higashinada Province

He was in the middle of a meeting. But Hideki just couldn't bear with it. Not when his sister was lying in the hospital.

Hideki, can you come? The Doctor says he wants to meet you, but of co-

He cut in the middle of Kuroneko's sentence, stood up from his chair and abruptly abandoned the meeting, much to everyone else's confusion.

Sakahara Zaibatsu Hospital, Room 3

"Sir, we're sorry that it happened, but..."

"My sister is incurable? ... I've known that."

"But... look on the bright side, sir. She's showing incredible recovery from her illness, and so, whatever this disease is, there will soon be a way to save her!"

"I hope so...", Kuroneko said.

"She'll regain consciousness, sir."

Hideki was slightly surprised. Not that he didn't expect it.

"How long will it be before she can wake up?"

"I can't tell, sir. But when she does, I'm afraid the rest of her life will have to be bound to a wheelchair. For good."

"Is she too weak to walk?"

"This disease, with the additional effects of negligence by the previous hospital, cost her too much strength. She won't be walking anytime soon."

Hideki's eyes watered yet again. He wanted to cry, but he held back, his face frowning. He gulped in his throat, then spoke:

"I don't care what will happen... Let me stay here with her. Kuroneko, go home and tell Sakahara Shinji as well as the others that I will be missing for a few days."

"... I... I will. Take care of yourself... of her, Hideki-kun."

"Doctor, I thank you for having looked over her for the last 2 days."

"I know it's a hard time, sir, but please, do your best."

Both the other two left the room, leaving only the bespectacled young man. Behind his glasses, he gave his immobile sister the most affectionate of looks.

What kind of brother am I...? How could I have forgotten about her? Was it because I thought everyone was... gone? Why must fate leave her as the one surviving and suffering? Am I alone not enough?

He held his fists, his body shaking.

Yumiko... What am I supposed to tell you when you wake up...?

One day passed by.

Two days. Three days.

And yet, Minamoto Yumiko would still not wake up.

Hideki awakened, finding himself beside the bed and sheets covering his sister. It was the 4th day of his watch. He wanted to know what was it that prevented her from opening her eyes. His right hand reached out for her chin. He could still feel her. Her warm, soft, creamy skin. Her blushing cheeks. Her weak breath. He wanted to feel her heartbeat, but he remembered just where that spot was; thus, he decided to feel her pulses instead - something he wasn't good at. He was afraid that his sister would truly never recover. He was thinking that the doctor was wrong.

And just at that moment...

She opened her eyes.

The violet eyes that she shared with him. They looked right back at his. Without his glasses, their eyes met. Hideki felt something he couldn't possibly describe. Euphoria was the closest thing to it, but he was about to burst into tears. In joy, he grabbed her with both of his hands.

"N... Nii-... san?"

"Right, Yumiko. It's your good-for-nothing brother. I'm here. I'm finally here."

Those tears that he held back through the days finally came out.

by **Gigaverse** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 2:24 am

January 2nd, Imperial Year 142
Shibatsue City, Higashinada Province

I've been selfishly fighting to change humanity... but I seem to have forgotten about the individuals.

I cannot deny it. From day one, it was not for the sake of my sister. It never was. I've... forgotten about her...

I cannot help but hate myself now. It's time that I set right everything that went wrong.

"Take care of yourself, Sir, and Happy New Year!"

"Same goes to you, Doctor."

Hideki turned his head towards his sister. He began to push her wheelchair away from the hospital.

She used to be this strong girl with healthy legs, who would run everywhere around me, giving me all kinds of troubles. She was the one that let me go on every of those torturous days given by my father and my friends without breaking down. She was a tomboy, up until that very day...

"Nii-san... You've changed so much... You look so... handsome...!"

"Just out of the hospital and already teasing me?"

It's not just me that's changed, sister. Everything has changed. Everything.

"What happened?"

"... If I said it was a lucky freak accident, would you believe me?"

"... Liar!"

They both shared with each other a good, light laugh. Hideki stopped abruptly in the middle of his laughter, however, to ask:

"... do your legs hurt, sis?"

Yumiko also stopped laughing. Her hand reached for both of her legs, pinching them.

"They... they don't."

Her face changed from the short happiness a moment ago to a melancholic stare at her legs. Hideki went in front of her, squatting down and held her cheeks up.

"Yumiko. Look at me. Don't lose hope. Your brother is here for you. I promise, one day, you'll walk again!"

"Nii-san... W- Where is mother?"

Hideki remained quiet. He couldn't answer her question properly. Their mother was... gone.

"Guess nothing can be hidden from you, right..."

The Graveyard of Minamoto Hanako

The sun shone brightly. The sky was clear without a cloud. Hideki wore no hat, and sunlight was his greatest bane, but bringing his sister to see her mother was his priority.

"Yumiko... Say hello to mother.", his sad eyes, hidden behind his pair of glasses, looked at his sister's shoulder-length black hair.

"... Okaa-san...?"

She looked at the picture of her mother smiling. She couldn't hold it back anymore. First, her legs, then, her mother.

"... I... I didn't even get to say goodbye to you... I didn't... pay my debt to you yet... Okaa-san... Why did you... Why..."

She held onto the shirt of her big brother, her tears pouring. Hideki looked at his sister. After that incident, after that contract... he was the only one left.

... the only one left to protect her.

"Let it all out, sis... If it makes you feel better, let it all out."

The truth must stay hidden. She must not know of my activities.

"Yumiko... we will now have to rely on each other to live on... Mother would not be happy if she saw you like this. I'm the crybaby, not you, remember?"

"... Ah... umm..."

"Let's go, Yumiko."

"Go where, Nii-san?"

"Our home."

Hideki pushed the wheelchair that his sister was on from the graveyard.

"I will never abandon you again, Yumiko-chan. I promise."

"... cross your heart?"

"... cross my heart."

by **Gigaverse** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 1:54 am

Sakahara Zaibatsu Headquarters, Imperial Capital

"Daddy... Pleeeeeeeeeeease?", a girl stared at him, her eyes sparkling, asking him for a favor.

"I said no.", he said.

"Uwaah... You're so cruel...", she said, on the verge of tears.

The man came back to his seat, his long, blond ponytail seemingly flying when he turned around. He sat down on his chair, picked the coffee on his desk up, and took a long sip. Looking at him, water focused under her eyes. The much shorter girl with pink twin-tails and red eyes, who was wearing black leather shirt and skirt, puffed out her cheeks, most likely to protest against her "Daddy's" cruelty. The man barely gave her even a mere look.

"Convince me.", he said.

"Uweeeh? I..."

"RAINBOW DASH, PINKIE PIE AND TWILIGHT SPARKLE, SUCKERS!", a red-haired woman with a brown tank top and white shorts kicked into the room, surprising the pink-haired girl.

"Fueeh? Blanca-san?"

"IF I MAY~!"

She burst into the room and grabbed the doughnut on a nearby dish, hugging the pink-haired girl and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Nyaa~..."

"So, what has Asami-chan been doing?", the woman asked, sticking out her tongue in a playful manner.

"Well...", Asami - the pink-haired girl - said, nervously, "I've been trying my best to ask Daddy for a favor, but he wouldn't listen..."

"If it's about that, then... We don't need these dumb men to satisfy us. Only girls can understand each other...", the woman approached Asami, her lips getting closer and closer every moment.

"I- Iie! Nyada! It's not... that! I was talking about something else, Blanca-san!"

"Huh?"

"I was... thinking... about establishing a... Ministry of Adorable Affairs...", Asami said, her index fingers twiddling.

The woman stopped for a second, giving her a stupefied stare. She then tried to hold her breath.

"... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's not like things get THIS interesting everyday.", Blanca said.

"Nyoro~n... Even you, too..."

Asami sighed in disappointment, looking down to the floor.

"S.S., I think we all know that this girl deserves what she asked for. Was it the Ministry part that made you imagine about bureaucratic ordeals?"

"No." - was the incredibly short answer.

"You know, things help a lot with a Ministry like that. They could... I don't know, gather popular support? It's a good form of populism. They can administer activities to increase loyalty to... you? Perhaps."

"... what's in it for me?", the blond-haired man asked, his bored frowning expression kept on as usual.

"I'll tell you."

Approximately one fifty-two million five hundred and ninety-six thousandth of a century (1/52596000, aka 1 minute) later

"Deal."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"OK! Asami-chan, good news! He's approved it!"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"OK!... What now?"

"Figure that out, airhead.", the man said.

Taking center stage the next day...

"... and I promise with the establishment of this Ministry, nobody will regret it! So... please guide us! Hauu~"

Asami bowed to the crowd below, as wild applause was saved for her until the last moment. She raised a white bunny to the crowd, smiling:

"This is now the mascot of the Ministry! Everyone, isn't she cute?"

"AWWWW..."

In the backstage, S.S. looked at her from behind. He told Samantha Blanca - the red-haired woman, and the one standing beside him - with that uninterested look of his:

"Never before in my entire knightly career have I ever given such a silly authorization."

by **Gigaverse** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 1:11 am

February 14th, Imperial Year 142
Shibatsue City, Higashinada Province

"Don't you think sunshine on Sunday mornings are beautiful?"

Yumiko asked Hideki, as he pushed the swing she was sitting on.

"Uh..."

He lied to her. That morning, she chose to tie a single pig-tail on her right side. She was the thing that seemed beautiful, not the sunshine, which had become his greatest bane since making a contract with S.S.

"Nii-san? How did you get this apartment? Was it another lucky accident?", his sister asked, innocently and curiously.

"Ah...? ... Yeah. It's a very long story. But... as you can see, people mostly fled, so we have free reign here."

"The reason's not convincing enough, Nii-san! Burglary is bad, you know!"

"... did you know that today is Lunar New Year?"

"Don't change the subject, Nii-san!", the girl puffed up her cheeks. It was obvious that she didn't intend on protesting against his actions - after all...

With their house destroyed, they didn't truly have a place to stay.

It was an accident, but not a lucky one.

I will have to hide this from my sister until she can fully recover...

... everything started the day I made the contract. In exchange of escaping the fate of a person hated by everyone, I had to lose something I love. I couldn't decide, so... I lost everything - up to and including myself. However, S.S., the one who offered me the terms of the contract, didn't mention how many members of my family were "conveniently" killed off "by the old Imperial government". In my mourning, I overthrew the Imperial government with the most destructive power granted to man. Before I knew it, I've been consumed by sadness and grief to such a point that I was twisted into a demon.

The demon that appears human in front of his sister.

"Nii-san? What's wrong? What are you thinking?"

"Hm. Nothing... hey, sis?"

"Nya?"

"Do you still remember the old days? How we used to play with each other?"

"Yeah! We used to run... a lot! I remember always outrunning you!"

"You still remember that? That's embarrassing!"

"Uhuh! We also used to play house! I got to be the wife, cooking and welcoming you home! Remember?"

"Ah yeah... The loser father with his doll baby. Carry on..."

"Mother would give me a prize whenever I get good grades, too!"

"Hehe..."

That particular memory... When my father was still alive and oppressing the three of us, there used to be favoritism from my mother for my younger sister. But... I don't hate her for that. I still see her as someone I actually need to take after., Hideki thought.

"What else can you remember?"

"Ah! We used to kis-"

Yumiko stopped abruptly in the middle of her sentence. She turned her head slowly to look at her brother. Both of them blushed hot red.

"W- When playing house?", Hideki asked.

"M... Mm."

"... Hey, Yumiko."

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you notice that today is also-"

"Valentine's Day?"

Both of them felt a sudden increase in their heartbeats, as Yumiko turned away to look in front of her.

"Are you... going to...", Yumiko said. Her brother quickly responded, as if knowing already what she was going to ask.

"Just some intimate contact... wouldn't hurt."

He held her shoulder, his face slowly approaching hers, as their pairs of violet eyes stared into the other's.

Their lips finally touched after so long. A gentle, affectionate gesture between two teenagers.

After no less than 10 seconds, he finally pushed himself away from her. The 16-year-old girl gave him a lingering, sad look at him.

"Nii-san... Is it true that there are only the two of us left? ... is mother really gone?"

"... I miss mother, too."

Her eyes teared up. She hugged his waist, unable to hold herself at the thought.

"... N... Nii-san..."

"I am here, Yumiko. I will take care of you.

From now on, I'll be your brother, your mother and your father. That's what family is for, right?"

She looked straight up to his face. By then, the young man had shed too much tears to be able to cry anymore.

"I will give you everything you want, sis. Your happiness will also be ours."

He wiped the tears from her soft cheeks. That look of bright sunshine - her sunshine - came back on her face. In the end, she would give him the smile he was hoping to see.

"... then... please take care of me, Nii-san!", she said, giving him a quick bow - the politeness that she picked from Imperial education.

Okaa-san*... I think I finally found someone only I can protect. This is my way of saying sorry to you.

Your daughter will grow up to become a fine woman... Just you wait!

* Okaa-san, for those not knowing Japanese, means "Mother". The context of the story is somewhat Japanese, as you can observe.

by **Gigaverse** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 8:57 pm

Everything came from a chaotic mix of black and other colors. There was nothing else but that: Primordial Chaos.

In the quiet violence of the ensuing chaos, an unknown being wandered aimlessly, as if the chaos was its desert and home. The creature's form was indescribable and beyond imagination. Hideously ugly, yet majestically beautiful at the same time.

Its mindless and seemingly endless journey through the vacuum ended when everything was slowly formed.

The planes of realities. The Universes.

The Earth.

The once carefree being burdened itself with helping in the half-natural creation of everything. More exactly, the formless one was one side of the equation, and the natural establishment of Order was the other.

The suppression of Chaos led to the birth of god-like beings - Influences. Outstanding among them was a quartet:

Elgrun (read: Noogron), the Influence of Life.

Enrokh (read: Enrokh), the Influence of Sacrifice.

hctneezT (read: Lalam?), the Influence of Manipulation.

Hsenaals (read: Yuranus), the Influence of Passion.

Heading them, becoming their eldest sibling, was the first of all beings, the Greatest Influence, with a true name incomprehensible to mortals.

The Influences were ever changing, never having taken a fixed form. For such a long time, tranquility and the status quo was kept up, until...

The Greatest Influence transformed... into a human - long before the birth of humanity.

A tall man, with black beard and long, unkempt hair. His eyes were always sleepy, yet filled with compassion. And once more, switching constantly between human and other forms, the Influence roamed the Earth. The birth and evolution of humanity was ever since settled.

One day, from a part of the Influence's body, something was created.

The Greatest Influence caught that something before it fell down and became lost. Something was strange about it. It seemed so much like the Influence's human form, yet... so different. It was attractive, tiny, and slender. Its black hair was... tidy, glossy and shimmering.

The "newborn" opened its eyes to its "father". Its eyes... bigger than those of the Influence's human form, and much more captivating.

"... Uh... Ah..."

... were the first half-words it could utter. Staring at the naked "newborn", the Influence's human form came out of the monstrous shell, fully clothed, and approached it. They both stared at each other when he got close. At close distance, it still seemed small...

They both reached their hands out to each other. Their hands clasped. Only until now did he notice that the "newborn" had a hand, no, two. "It" didn't seem to describe well enough. ... "Her" was more appropriate.

"Ni... Nii...?"

Her irises - a shade between azure and bright aqua/turquoise - looked into the thirty-something-appearing man's indigo eyes. He was simply too stunned to move.

She then gave him a hug.

"... Ny... Nyaa? Nyaa!"

The Influence chose to slowly give her an embrace. When the small thing was already resting by his chest, something else raced through his mind.

... W... What is this feeling I am having? This warm comfort... in my... chest? My heart?, he thought.

Then, there were two humans since that day: one stemming from transformation, and one being a true human.

by **Gigaverse** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:33 am

Date Unknown
Noah Observatory

The observatory reached into cloud nine. The clouds penetrated the unlit room in which Hideki was standing. Their arrangement was chaotic, yet their moves were smooth and tranquil. The young man stared deep into the midnight sky - something he had acquainted himself to from so long ago...

"We will begin tomorrow. Remember that."

The calm, lowered voice of S.S. broke the quietness; his words as cold as the air in and outside the room. Hideki didn't say anything for 5 seconds, before he decided to.

"S.S... Can we ever derive happiness from giving it to others?"

S.S. was slightly surprised of Hideki's question. He then turned to the direction of the door, and slowly walked outside.

"How am I supposed to know."

The tall man walked along the corridor, his long ponytail left flowing.

Who am I lying to, anyway. I feel happy for them, not me., he thought, his face remaining stiff as ever.

"Nippaaa~"

The girl that was "born" from the Greatest Influence was growing well. She was on her way to becoming a healthy, beautiful woman. But then, that step might be a bit far away; she was then only a slightly air-headed maiden who would stick to the Influence like she was part of his body.

Everyday, he came out to the fields to gather crops, then come into the woods to get charcoal. She would follow him everywhere. The first time when he left her alone and the girl was unable to find him, she cried her heart out, calling for him with incomprehensible words. He had found out ways of speeches to conveniently communicate with her. Recently, he felt that she had been able to understand more and more of what he was to say to her. One of those was... shaving.

"Munyaa!"

Some new idea of hers. She was giving him flowers.

"No, Nami. You aren't supposed to remove flowers from where they are."

"Nyoro~n..."

"Well, besides, you are already a flower to me.", he said, rubbing her head. Her mood brightened, and she once again began running somewhere else.

"That kid...", the Influence stood up straight, shaking his head with a smile on his face.

He had kept wondering. What has she truly been to him? A daughter? A younger sister? A twin sister? He would not burden himself for too long, however, as he had thought of names to call her already. "Nami" being one of those.

After dinner, they would play "silly little games" with each other. The small fun they had always been having was simple, yet effective, as it brought them closer together.

Staring at her for so long caused him to lose focus. That night, he felt something strange. He felt an urge for something inside of him. He just couldn't tell what it was. Certainly, however, he felt... excited. His stare caught Nami's notice, whose face turned hot red.

"Uwaaah..."

"... Na- Nami... I have been having this... strange... feeling inside. It's... passionately burning. I don't feel as normal as usual. Do you... feel the same?"

"Funya...?"

Her starry look and his indigo eyes once again met. They saw in the other... beauty. A majestic night sky. Both were getting more and more captivated.

"... Nii... Nyaa..."

"Nami... Let's..."

Their hands clasped, just like when they first met. They closed their eyes, and their lips touched upon the other's. The small frame of the girl had her inside the Influence's embrace.

That night was slightly different from all the others for them...

by **Gigaverse** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:16 pm

February 28th, Imperial Year 142
Shibatsue City, Higashinada Province

After two more weeks, when everything was acquainted once again, the two siblings were back to their old antics.

"Nii-san, do you think this will fit me?", Yumiko said, putting a sweater in front of her.

"Spring is almost over, sis. It's getting warm again - you'll melt if you wear that."

"Aww... But it looks nice!"

"Autumn will come again. Then, I'll bring you up North to Kaibouhama or Kanaikoto. You'd get your chance wearing those cute clothes.", Hideki explained, all the while chuckling.

"It's... not funny!", the younger sister puffed her cheeks.

"Right right. I also bought other clothes for you, you know. Search for them."

"Okaay~!"

She looked into the clothes, and brought up... women's undergarments.

"... Um... Ah... Nii-san...?"

"Yes?", Hideki said, his head turned to the kitchen.

"Y... You bought these... too?"

"I bought wha- OH MY LORD!"

He stared at the undergarments she was presenting to him. They were both blushing, and their eyes were stuck on the clothing.

"... Nii... Nii-san... Wh... How..."

"Well, you... err..."

The pot in the kitchen suddenly started making a lot of noises.

"OH CRAP! THE PORRIDGE! I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!"

"Here, sis. It's... dinner. Slightly screwed up, but still dinner. I know you like sweet stuff, so this is just sweetened porridge; because that's all about I can cook..."

"You need to learn cooking, Nii-san. Otherwise, you'll eat noodles, rice, porridge, eggs and cabbage all year round!"

The porridge was smoking hot beside them. Hideki brought with him a bowl of the porridge. He scooped up with the spoon, blowing the heat away.

"Here. Open your mouth. Say 'Ahh'."

"Ahhhn..."

As he fed her the spoon of porridge, a bit of the liquid dropped onto her chest area - which was covered by clothes. Hideki noticed immediately, but it took a few seconds later for his sister to realize.

"Nii-san... are you... looking at my bust?", she asked.

"There's porridge."

"Nii-san you pervert...", she said, covering her mouth with her two hands.

"WHAT? How did it turn out like this, anyway?", he startled, his eyebrow raised.

"HIDEKI! YUMIKO-CHAN!"

A different voice was shouting from the outside, as someone else ran in.

"Kuroneko? How did you get in-"

"It's time for... her to practice walking... at the hospital, ... Hideki.", she said, gasping for breath.

Both of the siblings remained quiet, as they looked at each other, and then, at Kuroneko.

Mukashi Mukashi... (Closed)

Mukashi Mukashi... (Closed)

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The Order War, Part 1: A New World!

Everyday Life in the People's Republic of Skalia

Summer with Minamoto Hideko-chan (Pt. 1)

If only Reincarnation was Reality (Part 1)

The First Great Retcon of Lesrenadia

Saint Lucius and a Maiden Dame

The Order War, Part 2: Old gods, sleeping gods, new gods.

Melancholia's New Lord

Hammaeroth Saga: Black Dog & Black Cloak

Hammaeroth Saga: The Day a Demon Knight was born

Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 1)

If only Reincarnation was Reality (Part 2)

Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 2)

Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 3)

First Minister of Adorable Affairs

Shards Saga: A Human Sadness (Part 4)

Shards Saga: A Celestial Melancholy (Spin-off)

Shards Saga: A Celestial Melancholy (Part 2)

Shards Sage: A Human Sadness (Part 5)

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