Cult of Ustream ~ Official Roleplay 【Main RP Thread】

"Wh-what's....going on.." the Sky Serpent's voice reached Shadow, and, though fairly distant, he could register it coming from staircase opposing the one he was barely on. He blinked when he say her, he tried to say something that would prevent her from plunging into bare danger, but it was too late for anything. The Diclonius felt a vile subconscious sting of anticipation before it actually happened.

"S-Starr!" he yelled from the other side, starting forward--an attempt to get both in his psychokinetic weapons' area of action--but stopped immediately as he saw the Scarlet Gunslingers' own. Gleaming with the morning light entering from the nearby windows, Vale's arm was completely armored by dark, metallic hide which only made Shadow remember it was the same one which had demolished entire walls of the Cult Headquarters during the night of the Black Assassin's assault, several days ago.

This time, his four vectors tensed, sharply-bladed frequencies overcoming their purely solid ones in a single command, but did no further action. If he attacked, he might as well strike Starr... or provoke him into killing her in the spot.

-----~---~---~-----

Scenery whizzing past the Crimson Meister due to her sheer velocity, Espira projected the optical illusion of teleporting--by blurring out and into reality at set lengths. After all, the famous Illusion Dash technique was meant to complement her fighting style in short, accurate bursts of speed, but covering the distance between the Colosseum and Starr's Hill Laboratory was something else. The building became evident, but even more so the conflict brewing within, as the otherwise peaceful structure seemed to leak an ominous, somber essence, particularly from the ground floor.

Eyes narrowing, she wasted no time to direct her course straight at it. Indeed, something was happening. Espira arrived in the span of several seconds after sighting, and she simply stayed there, waiting, looking back shortly for Kyton for when he actually arrived. An unnerving silence coated the tension hidden within the invisible interior of the hill home... though, it did not look like it had ended. There was simply nothing--no discernible movement or overheard voices either. No openings, she nearly hissed in a low whisper, entering through the door or windows would reveal my presence instantly.

Her chain cast a crimson light, and she waited in silence.

 

Meanwhile, near the Hill's main entrance, a white blur could be spotted heading straight for it. Pricilla! Shadow! Valerie! Anyone?! Jude relayed telepathically, worried about what the Trapped God could be doing to them. He nearly ran headlong into the door before stopping a few feet in front of it. He thought about knocking, but then realised that he could feasibly have the leg-up on Vale if Oikeus were to attempt anyone's life. He needed surprise.

He looked around, left to right, then back again. Noticing Espira, he shot a glance her way and simply said, "That shot. It was not by Vale's hand." Realising she may not get the hint, he continued, "At least, not by his mind. Vale is a vessel for a rather nasty 'deity' that I have had the unfortunate time of coming into contact with. He himself knows better than to shoot at one of his compatriots." He looked her way once more, adding, "It can be assumed that we are both aiming for the same thing -- to find our way in without alerting anyone inside."

 

"L-Let me the FUCK GO YOU BLOODY IDIOT!" Yelled out the Royale Serpent with slight panic, powerfully kicking her legs back and slamming her hands close together on Vale's metallic face over and over as a defensive measure. No matter how many powerful hits and slams he got, Vale looked unmoving. Unemotional, concentrated on his prey with such a piercing gaze on Starr. However, with his fixed gaze on his capture, Vale's attention wasn't fully on her as others may have been seeing. His senses roared, feeling upon the warm bodies surrounding him with fear escaping their lips with each deep breath. Each one a potential kill. Each one a potential enemy, no less. Vale gripped harder on Starr, flashing his fangs while feeling her neck press up between his bent arm tightly. Starr let out another yell- this time of rage and then of desparation as her voice suddenly cracked and faded slightly. It appeared that Vale was starting to choke her a little too much.

Crrrraaaaaaaackle​

"One step-" Vale roared with a smirk, choking Starr's neck slightly harder as he heard the "wondrous" sound of her neck crackling under the pressure. "And-.....A-And.." Pausing, Vale's lip began to quiver slightly without any warning.

Step forward, coward! Enough with your fleeing and fight this with honor!​

Under the absence of light in this world of warped perception, Vale's weapon lifted up towards Oikeus slowly. The Scarlet Gunslinger's teeth clamped against each other with a harsh conviction followed with a series of deep and hard breaths escaping through the crevasses and slight openings of his now sharp set of teeth. He was tired, Oikeus was tired. And yet, things weren't even done yet. Both fighters let out a tired roar, pointing their weapons at each other quietly. Without a second to pass, the two vanished and re-appeared and clashed powerfully against one-another. Both sword and rifle, grinding powerfully in what seemed to be an eternal duel.

 

As Espira arrived at the Hill, so did another blur. However, this blur was mostly white -- it was Jude. He looked around for a moment, then turned to Espira. "I am assuming we have both arrived here for similar reasons. However, as this is not the time to commence lengthy discussions on the subject, I must concentrate on discovering any means of entry, as the doors are most likely sealed." After he sad that, he began looking for any sort of unguarded or improvised entrance. A vent, an open window, anything would do. If I find a suitable means of entry, I request you to meet me near it. Do not be skeptical if it is a ventilation shaft. I have my methods. He projected, looking for any form of improvised entry path -- vents, windows, exhaust pipes, et cetera. He needed to find a way in, else God would only know what Oikeus would have done to the others.


On his way to the Colosseum, Jack too had heard the shot being fired. "Not now!" He half-shouted in irritation and concern. He, like Jude had done earlier, changed his path, swerving in the direction of the Hill. Even though he knew that there was a very high chance that both Jude and Espira had arrived already, he didn't let that stop him from at least going there to investigate. What did anyone do that caused Vale to fire a shot? Could they have annoyed him to the point of breaking, or was it something else entirely? He knew one thing -- there was only one way to find out, and that was going to the Hill and finding out first-hand.

 

Starr's legs began to lose their powerful and quick movements as she felt her neck slowly being crushed by Vale's powerful metallic arm. One hard blink was made by the Royale serpent as a reaction to the unbelievable pain radiating from her neck and now slithering down her body slowly like a viper. Looking up slowly after Shadow yelled out her name, Starr's lip moved slightly in an attempt to yell out, in an attempt to call out for help. Any, if all. But, she found herself losing the strength to do so. "G-Grah..." She grunted out, ceasing her kicking and any defensive movement. Starr had simply...stopped. I need to conserve my energy...for now, of course...I don't know if my neck can take so much strain..

Clash after clash, hit after bloody hit. Metal grinding powerfully against metal rang throughout the strange, open world like a twisted flat key of a symphony repeating one grueling note over and over. Shots of Vale's powerful shotgun rang like a rapid series of drums one moment, and Oikeus' blade slashing out nosii energy like a conductor waving his baton in the next moment. Each second that passed by delivered grueling hits to both of these fighters. However, none of them seemed to show much signs of exhaustion. The dual contenders quickly landed on opposite sides of the "battlefield" after their sharp moment of pure combat, staring at one-another with an incredible amount of fury. You've grown much more clever over the past year, haven't you? The Scarlet Gunslinger hissed, taking in a breath until cocking his shotgun once. But... Lifting up his rifle, Vale gave off a silent chuckle. My home-field advantage nulls out your wit, beast...as you are clearly within the mind that knows no bounds..

Slashing the blade to his side, Oikeus regained his combat position and gave a nod. The coal-black armor adorning his mortal form slithering and forming a black mask over his pale face without any word. For a moment of silence, a moment of intense gazing- studying the enemy before them, Oikeus whispered without anger...without any emotion.

And I must admit you've came a long way, boy....broken the barriers of understanding to the point where you gave yourself the gift of unbounded power.​

Oikeus suddenly raised his black blade and slowly began to move it to the right, creating violent black rips outlined with that unmistakable scarlet lining.

It had to be done if I wanted to live.
And indeed you lived.
​

Silence engulfed the entire hill home for an entire minute. Vale stood almost motionless- still applying pressure onto Starr's neck slowly while the active strands of Nosii remained in their bladed setting. In one area of the home was Valerie and the twins; in which Rye and Ringo stood closely in her arms in slight fear. In another area were Shadow and CrazE, petrified in this sudden turn of events. And outside were Espira and two other companions, awaiting the right moment to strike. Vale gave out a slight laugh as he began to back away slightly, suddenly stopping upon hearing something unusual. Starr looked down carefully while Vale stopped and gave a shaky smirk.

It was a series of muffled beeps coming from her leg.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Sir, we seemed to have gotten quite a large amount of signals over the past minute or two that is considerably affecting Network 6's ability to send feedback."

Looking back, a pair of lavender and dark-pale pink infused eyes blinked nonchalantly at a soldier standing in attention just in front of a door. The faint sound of short, dark chuckles soon following before vanishing. "Network six....." Going quiet for a moment, the man looking back at the soldier from a large black office chair whispered under his breath until turning back and shifting his attention to a couple of men in front of him. "The Ierin-Ustream regional Net-" Nodding real slowly, he spoke out again after a pause. " ...Pardon me." Standing up slowly, the man dressed in a pure-black coat overlooked an expansive meeting room table riddled with officials without an expression. He lifted up his arm rapidly and snapped, suddenly causing the men on the meeting room table to freeze into an apperant trance-like state as he made his way towards the soldier. "I'll grant you 3 minutes to show me your ability to be useful, private. On with it, if you will." He hissed under his breath.

"Yes Sir.."

 

"Suit yourself." Dark said, shrugging as he went inside. "I've got to tune my guitar anyway. Can never tune them too much, you know--" And then he heard it. Two distinct sonic booms -- one from the shot of a gun, the other from a sudden burst of speed initiated by Jude. He wondered where the shot came from and if Jude had gone to find out, though he figured the latter was very likely. He contemplated going to investigate himself, but decided against it after realising that there would be more people there investigating than just Jude. It was extremely likely for someone like Espira to have gone, and Jack can't usually pass up something like this on moral grounds. Off to tune guitars, then.

 

"String Art,"

That, she reckoned, was enough. She kept these words close to a whisper as she cautiously viewed the scene from the same window. The grip on her dagger tightened as she raised her free hand just slightly, power already beginning to collect as if activated, arranged, and then completed into an abstract purpose with concrete results. Magic? Whereas Vale's attention was not completely centered on his hostage due to an unknown factor she had not deciphered yet, Espira, however, was focused on the Scarlet Gunslinger himself, the ebony armor enveloping his form merely a physical obstacle between a new analogy--one speaking of predator and prey.

"Vale! Y-you have to sto--" Normally, the Crimson Meister would have waited until the situation stabilized through natural means before entering herself. Coldblooded tactic, yes, but it prevented her from wasting unnecessary resources or even placing her in the imminent area of crossfire. Normally. Nobody was truly expendable here, but they were more than capable of fending for themselves. From his spot, the Diclonius stepped forward, perhaps even more than he should have, for other than risking himself, two out of four vectors shuddered, as if in anticipation.

"Confined Corpse." the technique was announced, and heard, but she made sure there was no room between them both. And there wasn't. Glass ejected inwards, shattering into myriad pieces at the impact made by ethereal Mana constricted as lines, transparent strings that held knives as black as night extending from Espira's hand, and impacting, once again, on the opposite wall. Shadow stepped back in milliseconds of fright which then turned into surprise as the Crimson Meister herself appeared in front of the window, inside the building. At least a dozen of strings stood in place, all around Vale and Starr, passing closely by their bodies with no direct contact whatsoever. While summoning an obsidian weapon inside one's body would be effectively fatal, Espira had made no actual attempt to kill.

However, measures had to be taken. In a blink, approximately half of the knives turned on their axis, forever eyeing, threatening Vale's position with their blades. Espira spoke,

"One movement against her," she spoke calmly as ever, but the distinctive determination behind her voice carried, completely, the meaning of her words, "And I will not hesitate in replicating our first match."

 

Espira's sudden entrance was followed shortly thereafter by Jude's rapid sublimation and solidification near the back wall facing Vale. He had surveyed the perimeter of the Hill Lab, finding no real means of entry, but upon hearing the sound of glass shattering, he knew Espira had gone in through a window anyway. Nor will I hesitate to do the same... Oikeus. He projected, mainly to Vale but also making sure Espira heard it, the icy blue pads on his hands glowing slightly. He was preparing for the inevitable -- if past experience had taught him anything, it was that in these situations, neither persuasion nor intimidation would make the inciter change their tune. Of course, past experience mostly involved people like Paul Drake and Kuro for Jude, but it held true nonetheless. He waited for either Espira or Vale to move first, not wanting to bear the brunt of a possibly devastating blow. In the shadow of the wall behind him, one could see that it was not only his hands glowing now, but his irises were also slightly luminescent as well. He was preparing to defend himself.

Other than Vale, Kyton and Espira, he noted another mental frequency -- Jack. Though Jack hadn't arrived yet, he decided to take the liberty of letting him know of the situation anyway. We believe we have the situation under control, Jack. However, I will notify you if we require your assistance. Stay invisible outside the lab if needed. Jack stopped as he arrived, immediately concealing himself around the corner from the broken window before thinking in response, Understood. He prepared the Adamantine Saber and stood there in wait for Jude to call him.

 

At HQ, Dark was hard at work tuning his legendary guitar. He had it plugged in to a normal amp for testing, and didn't have any effects turned on. He tuned the low E, then plucked the string. It reverberated a nice, deep E. He tuned the next five strings in turn, testing them several times in succession to make sure they were consistent. Over on a stand on the left side of the room was a few sheets with sheet music printed on them -- he seemed to be writing a new guitar piece. After he had finished with the tuning of his guitar, he went over to resume work on the sheet. He got about 20 more bars in before something else caught his attention -- out of the corner of his left eye, he saw a framed photo of himself and another Lycan, however, this one was female. She was almost entirely black, with a simple double blue stripe down her back along with long blue-highlighted black hair tied back in two ponytails. Above the two of them was, written in a font commonly seen on commemorative photos, "Dark and Tate, 8144". He turned his attention to the photo and sighed a sigh of what seemed to be a mixture of longing and frustration. She seemed to be one of the things he missed about Ferona. The only mistake I ever made. I shouldn't've just left her there. He thought to himself while looking out the window into the endless expanse of blue that made up the Euthoran skies, If you're out there somewhere, know that I've never stopped thinking of you, Tate. He collected his thoughts and mulled them over for a moment. He wished he could be back in a band. He wished he could see his hometown again. But, most of all, he wished he could see his fiancee, Tate, again. He didn't want to leave and had no plans to leave his friends here, so that left but one option: find a way to bring her here.

 

Vale's mouth slowly began to break in a smile like no other. A twisted, psychotic grin forcibly splitting his then-nonchalant metallic facial expression like a fine blade running through a loaf of bread. No matter what he saw-- whether it be the expansive magical deathtrap laid out in front of him or the potential enemies surrounding him, the possessed gunslinger brushed it off as a simple and pathetic attempt to get at him. He wasn't a fool, no, and he didn't let the mere sight of blades on strings throw him off of what he had been trying for all this time. Slinging his head down, that forced smile flashed right down at the prize of his efforts- Starr. "It's only a matter of mind and reflex, my dear caster..." Looking up, Vale shot his abysmal red glare at Espira, then looked down at Starr. All she could do was hiss and look down at her dangling feet. Vale had unknowingly lifted her up as if she were merely a doll. "It's sad to sacrifice a woman, but...now we're at a point where we cannot go back-- you either stop me somehow, some way, or let luck be the winner on my end."

"Luck isn't...going to d-do you bloody noth-" A loud whizzing sound was heard within seconds after Starr decided to speak up viciously. A sharpened strand of Nosii quickly dashing across and through the openings allowed from Espira's string trap without ever coming into contact with them. As quickly as it struck, it pulled itself back to it's original position and sharpened once again. "Move again...and I promise you that every single bit of energy around here will strike at you faster than a blink of your pretty eye, woman."

-------------------------------
"Here we go- this is the signal we're getting, along with a ton of distress codes. However, sir, I can't seem to send any feedback nor send support using the subject's nanomachines." The soldier spoke softly, shifting his finger around an open holographic space in front of him. He touched and poked popping up windows floating in front of him, sorting them out by shifting them to the side where the man dressed in drag-black stood right besides him, sticking out his own hand and expanding each window. The man nodded, "Asphyxiation.. " with a pause, the man looked over at the soldier scrambling around with a continuous flow of windows- signals, many many signals. "...If you can't send feedback in order to activate the nanomachines, I figure you'd have a plan ready for that, Hm?"

The soldier gulped slightly, "No- No, sir. No.."

He rose a brow to the soldier's response. "I can have you gutted for this.. twisted in ways you never thought humanly possible, excreting vast amounts of foam from the corner of your hapless mouth that has spent the last 3 minutes sputtering out the vomit of which I figure is pure failure-" Pressing a concealed button on the collar of his long jacket, it simply began to break down into simpler fragments of black. Each piece of his once black jacket floating away as if it were a lone, black butterfly. The soldier looked briefly from the corner of his eye, seeing the man with only a white military muscle shirt on. His long white arms covered with popping veins that twitched ever so slightly with anger. And that strange tattoo of a-

"Ms. Starkey's home, say no more-- Since the signals seem to be clogging up this ship's ability to respond, I know I can't waste any time." The man soon spoke up, crossing his arms and turning away towards the mechanical door. "Does the cargo teleporter still function properly?"

Nodding, the slightly frightened soldier reached down and pressed a button. "Y-Yes, General. Ready for use."

"Very well."

 

It merely took red and blue stares to connect for the briefest of moments to relay an unspoken message. The Diclonius took the utmost care in his movements to retreat slightly, his form barely at the mouth of the staircase he had used to descend... and then witness these events unfold. He didn't exactly dare to turn back or move farther still, though, as if anything happened, his illusionary limbs were already released, waiting as if on autonomous will. Vale was still within his vectors' range of extension.

When it came to involving themselves in combat, Espira had always, invariably, taken the lead; whereas Shadow used his innate gift to do particularly everything else that did not raise the possibility of getting in her way. She had made it clear, way back then, that it would be the best for both if they adhered to these roles as a golden rule, unless absolutely necessary. So, even though Shadow was taking a risk that might as well be lethal by staying just like almost everyone else, it was a risk he was, surprisingly even to him, willing to take.

Because Espira was too.

Her expression remained stoic while the Scarlet Gunslinger threatened his hostage and, to an extent, the Crimson Meister herself. Her lips, frozen in a barely perceptible line of neutrality, curved just slightly, but definitely, as Espira smiled. It would have been a remarkably soft one if it were not for the fact it poorly hid the malignant intent dwelling behind. Maybe it was not even meant to be hidden in first place. "Are you willing to bet on who is faster?"

She flicked her dagger-holding hand just slightly for it to glint against her shadow, to accentuate this statement, to show that the blade was still there. As were the ones practically completely surrounding the duo. "Or are you going to gamble in a game a chance? In the end, the variables are all against you, be either choice."

 

Fool, you're playing with fire here!​

Vale's smile almost faded away upon the small voice in his head. A furious, tired, and assertive yell before going muffled once again. Inside the doors of mere perception, all of which was going on seemed to have intensified. The conflict-- outside and in had only raged on and messed with Vale's ability to do anything. With Espira's bet on hand, Vale nodded for a moment and released Starr's neck from the bend of his metallic arm. Red and Purple imprints of his constricting arm swelling the Royale female's neck like an inflatable balloon- Starr couldn't help but take a large breath and cough loudly until falling forward. Vale's black arm quickly grabbed the back collar of her jacket and viciously snorted. "This woman," The possessed gunslinger started, closing his eyes while some of his many strands of Nosii began slinking towards him. Each strand dissipating from their bladed forms to simply a black and red mist. "Will be the judge of this."

What do you think you're doing...?!
Putting an end to all this.
And both enemies clashed together again, the bullets rained down on Oikeus...swirling down with violent rips as if they were black strikes of thunder.
You seem to FORGET, BEAST! SHE CAN AND WILL END YOU LIKE SHE'S DONE BEFORE. And your fucking victim...your victim might too! Both of you!
And the two reset their positions opposite from eachother. A realization sparking in Oikeus' blood eyes.
That is the plan.

-------------------------

Walking down a dimly-lit hallway, the man whom they called the "General" shifted his empty stare from left to right. Each eye connecting, scanning, understanding, reading each soldier's own personal thoughts like a book as he passed by them with a quiet and confident stride. This General, despite this unusual situation regarding someone from his very own network, seemed peaceful. Almost borderline uninterested. Soon enough, his hard black boots stopped in front of a white and guarded door. It seemed to be a cargo room. A moment passed by as he stood there, his mind stuffing itself- indulging itself in memories which only made his eye twitch with a result of broken concentration. ...You stupid child.

And the door immediately began to wrinkle, all it's metal structure folding and grinding violently. Putting out an arm in anger, the General waved it to his right quickly, then folding his arm to himself which caused the door to be pushed inwards. Each soldier gripped their plasma rifles dearly as if they have slightly seen him do that before. But now wasn't the time to notice the marveling Cadettes. He brushed off his thoughts once more and stepped inside, snapping his fingers which caused the whole room to light up. Boxes, wires, moving flatbed chains going active upon his arrival. Each step lit up a section of the large room, leading up to a grand platform with an electrical rod stationed above. There it was.

Slowly, the General stepped into the platform, looking to his right where a control box was located at. As if it were magic, some of the buttons began to press down on their own. Typing in an unusual language the location in which he were to be teleported to. And in a few moments...

He was gone in a flash of white.

-----------------------
"Uraagh...!" Looking down and then up, Starr coughed once and then shook her head. She looked mighty exhausted, scared . "There isn't a-any good for me to keep up your trap ...it isn't wise to bet upon /my/ l-life which could be e-e-n....urgh...ended by him throwing m-me to your i-infernal web of b-blades...Espira.." With a snort, Vale simply pulled Starr away from the dangling webbing of Espira's imminent trap. Being only a few inches away from it, Starr whimpered slightly. At least Vale didn't let her die from that. At least....maybe not yet.

"Ah but my dear....thats how we're going to know who is quicker." Chuckled Vale with a strange look in his eye. Starr's eyes, on the other hand, widened with confusion. "H-How is that s-"

For a long moment, Vale smiled and began to chuckle softly. Chuckle after infernal chuckle. "Easy. I'll drop you into this web, form myself a pathetic weapon-- one that Vale would normally use in executions, and whoever can be faster, wins.

You've already lost.​

 

Ah, it appears you have returned. I would wager that he has lost as well. Jude responded, still a tad wary of the man, Distract him. I have a rather crazy idea. He paused for a minute, remembering Jack's relatively undisturbed presence outside, Jack, your assistance in this would be much appreciated. Help distract Vale. To this, Jack simply nodded. Knowing he'd need to find a different way in, he began to scout one out. Meanwhile, sensing crazE's distress, Jude sent a message out to him, crazE, if you would, I have a plan of release for Pricilla, but it requires a distraction. If I remember, these are one of your many specialties? I cannot rely on the other man's involvement and Jack is still outside, so would you offer your services if it meant she would be free from Vale?