forum The Crimson Lantern Festival | Chinese and Japanese Influenced Roleplay | Closed

Started October 20, 2019 by @CasiCasino group

tune

Koki had been sitting on the floor, not moving as she stared at her hands in shock. She had two different coping methods with change: Ignoring it and freezing like a deer in headlights and having a mental breakdown. "D-demon…" She muttered, her gaze not moving from her hands even though her pupils were swirling.

Kaito’s eyes were locked on the large figurine. His mind was filled with mainly three questions; one, why did it have to be now? Two, how the hell did a demon get in here? And three, how in the ever loving was he, a mentalist, going to fight a demon. It’d be great if he was in charge of different position, not the ones fighting the demons… then it clicked. As a mentalist, a mind manipulator, he was able to calm the locals down, perhaps even to a point where they won’t panic when he started evacuating them.
That’s right… he was here to prove himself worthy of becoming human, and sympathy and kindness might just be the trick to an easy route to make the judges acknowledge him and his actions.

Despite all that, he waited for the others to be ready before he would start his plan. With that, he just stepped up to stand beside the fourth judge.

Ryuusei gulped slightly at the sight of the creature. He wasn't feeling too different than he had as a powerless human so he hesitated a little. What if they couldn't beat it? What would happen if the demon overpowered them? From the looks of it, nothing good were to happen if it got past them; the judges wouldn't be pleased either and who was to say they could not send them promptly to hell or worse, have them be reborn as something disgusting like a tapeworm inside an ox. That thought alone made him shiver.
Still, he could not just sit there and watch, not if he wanted to show he wasn't scared. He turned towards the frozen girl, who seemed to be having an inner conflict and walked up to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. It will be alright, i promise."
He could no longer count how many times he'd spoken those words, but it was his way of comforting the child.

Koki swallowed hard and stood up, she could do this. She put on a brave face for her family and she could do it now too. "Okay." She muttered to herself, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to remember everything, anything about the spirit she now is. "Illusions, alright, I can do that. Just painting a picture in your mind." Koki said under her breath, convincing herself of this fact before trying it herself. She pictured a cartoony sun, it was simple, just a yellow ball with some sticks poking out of it. It didn't even have to be 3d.

(Poor Koki. Would it be possible for them to fail this first time, cuz they're 100% newbies? Or does the 'protag armor' trope apply here?)

(Oh they’re gonna fail really badly, there’s almost no point trying actually but since it’s a duty, we need to try anyways XD. I’m not saying that the demon won’t die because of someone else though)

Kaito noticed the conversation behind him, he turned back and was immediately stunned by the amount of black fog around the two figures (Kaito’s the only one who can see this fog).

Oh… so this is my magic… he thought before he turned back to the demon…
It was moving, moving much faster than its size could’ve allowed it to and it was heading towards the group. Behind it was groupings of people, some motionless, some crying, some screaming at the top of their lungs at the lost of someone.

People… can die in the afterworld…? Where do they go after that then? A thought came to Kaito’s mind which he quickly shrugged off, right now, the demon was possibly the thing he should be focusing on. Approximately thirty seconds before the demon would reach the group. A plan needed to be executed and quickly as well.

"So what's the plan?" he asked the fourth judge. He knew too well dashing in head first with no plan of action was extremely stupid. The others seemed completely unprepared for this kind of confrontation, therefore the main plan was to make sure no one died, if dying was even possible in the afterlife, and making slaying the demon the secondary plan.
In the meantime, he looked around for something he could use as a weapon. Due to his upbringing, he was unable to take proper kendo lessons, yet one of his elderly neighbors happened to be a retired former imperial guard, who was kind enough to teach him a few things about how to use long weapons, like a staff or a lance, mostly for self defense. Ryuusei doubted his current combat knowledge was sufficient to guarantee a victory.
He never took his eyes off the beast as it ran towards them, tension building up in his body, preparing himself to dash away in case the thing decided to stomp on them.

Kaito hesitated before he shook his head. He couldn’t think of anything himself, yet he had his hopes on the fourth judge.

The fourth judge giggled.
”Of course I have something in mind silly, though one of you will have to help me with this. Just be a decoy for me, that’s all I ask for” the judge stated, calm enough to be able to turn to face the spirits as they spoke.

“I’ll go” Kaito volunteered. Despite his seemingly not-so athletic body, he was a somewhat professional runner and parkour runner.

The fourth judge nodded.
”The other three, stay behind me at all times” the judge stated clearly as she raised her flag up as it began to shine a blue light.
”Now you—“ she turned to Kaito ”—run out when I say so”

Ryuusei nodded as he stepped behind the judge, alongside the other two girls. He turned to Kaito once again wishing him a silent 'good luck'. He trusted the judge enough to follow her plan, given they were terribly inexperienced and the woman definitely knew more about the situation than they did.

Kaito nodded subtly as he kept his eyes on the demon, it was fast, really fast but hopefully he would be able to outrun it.

”And…—“ the judge started ”—now!!” he shouted to the man as he made his run forward. The demon, upon seeing this tried to grab the man when he was getting close to which the man answered by sliding under the creature’s legs, barely avoiding the hands of it.

Damn it, thing’s quicker than I thought… he complained internally. At least he was sure he still had his skills from when he was alive.

The demon turned around and knelt down before Kaito, attempting to grab him with its two hands. Seeing the knees to be quite steady, Kaito made a jump on it to avoid the grabbing. Grasping the corner of the demon’s knee, he used it to vault over and land beside the demon… this was a mistake.

Shit!! Kaito’s legs were grabbed by the demon’s hand and was held beside the demon’s face.

The fourth judge’s eyes widened in surprise, her powers were not charging as quickly as she had wanted and the man was at risk of being eaten.

”Pesky… insect…” the demon growled at Kaito in his hands as he slowly pulled its hand towards itself, opening its mouth ever so slightly.

Jennifer, though panicking as you do when faced with a huge demon trying to kill/eat someone, did as the judge instructed and stayed behind her. What could she do? I could shapeshift into something, she screamed at herself, A dragon or an equally tall demon thing, anything useful. I could help. And yet she didn't move, mostly because of the fact that she trusted the judge. Even though things looked like they were going to shit, that was the best thing to do. And again, what could she do? She'd just risk messing things up further and possibly get Kaito and/or herself killed.

'Kaito!'
He was caught so easily! Ryuusei was one second away from dashing to try and save him before the creature crushed him or bit his head off - theoretically they were still dead, so there shouldn't be anything the demon could do that the musicians could not heal. but the boy didn't want to find the answer right now. He shot a tensed look at the judge who seemed to be just as frustrated from the time needed for her powers to charge.
His eyes scanned around quickly for anything useful, eventually landing on the petrified spirits in charge of guarding the entrance of the fourth court. In a matter of seconds he slid next to one of them, snatching the lance out of its tensed hands before returning to face the beast. He only had mild experience when it came to long ranged weapons, and even the things he did know were intended for a staff, not a lance. He had to be very careful if he wanted to avoid a mess up.
Fighting the beast was totally out of the question, he was greatly overpowered; yet the demon was currently busy with Kaito, so he had a very tiny chance to act without being disarmed in the first second. He dashed towards the creature, avoiding a straight route so as to not allow the demon to sweep him away in one hand motion. He noticed when the creature spotted him and slammed his lance on the ground, launching himself in the air in order to avoid an incoming attack. This was it, one chance to strike. In a flash, his eyes searched for any possible weak spots or openings though he could not find any. In the final second, he chose his target and swung his lance as hard as he could.

The polished blade flashed in the air, slicing through the creature's arm, the giant fist with Kaito prisoner in it falling to the ground. Thank god.
Ryuusei had realized he could not land a fatal or at least harmful strike on the beast, therefore in the last second he had decided to try to free Kaito and hopefully buy some more time for the fourth judge.

Clever, just as I expected the fourth judge noted down mentally about Ryuusei’s actions and Kaito’s courage to try and lure the demon. Even then, the demon’s arm regenerated faster than it took for Kaito to run away.

As the demon figure’s hand reached for the fallen Kaito…
Slash…
A bright yellow flash came down and went for the demon’s head, slicing it off with ease. The demon’s body went to a kneeling position before falling fully to the ground with their head decapitated. The figure had stood in front of Ryuusei after the action.

The figure who had sliced off the demon’s head wore a yellow yukata with a lightning storm design, a yellow Oni mask with white fangs, had short and straight black hair, a balanced structure around the height of Ryuusei, had a silvery Kanata which had turned bloody due to what just happened, and yellow pearl earrings.
”The blood of demons—“ the figure sheathed their blade ”—hellish essence none of you should wish for” the figure spoke to the group as a whole before they took off their mask.

When the mask was removed, the facial features of the man was clear; he had asymmetrical black hair covering parts of his forehead, sharp but gentle black eyes, and tender looking lips.
”Greetings to all of you, I am the third judge; Songdi” the man bowed to everyone in greetings.

Ryuusei had barely managed to land back on the ground without tripping or losing his balance, using the lance to try and stabilize himself. He noticed something large falling to the ground and rolling away, followed by a very loud thud - the demon had been slain in just one strike. Brushing away the loose hair from his face, he finally saw the new figure holding a bloody katana standing in front of him.
He straightened his pose, still holding on to the lance and bowed slightly as a response to the man's greetings. His heart was still pounding in his chest, his body tense from the adrenaline rushing in his system. He thanked the heavens for the arrival of the third judge right on time.

The third judge turned to Kaito to help him up. Kaito respectfully accepted the man’s offer to help him.
”That was brave, both of you… but maybe next time, run into a fight when you’re sure someone’s ready to support you in case of mess ups” the third judge warned before he turned to the fourth judge who was heading towards him, pouting and crossing her arms.

”Aw come on sweetie—“ he walked towards her and patted her on the head ”—I had to save them since your powers took too long to charge” the man laughed a bit at the end.
”Pleasure to meet you two as well” the third judge turned to Koki and Jennifer as he said his greetings.

"I apologize for my recklessness, my lady." Ryuusei bowed, apologetically.
He found it quite weird that the woman scolded them both, when it had been HER idea for Kaito to play bait. But alas, there was no point in pointing it out, especially due to the rank difference.
So he just walked back to the rest of the group, returning the lance to the guard he had snatched it from, with a small apologetic bow