Nova Heart District has a different feeling compared to the other four The Players has been through. Most notably is the lack of people stuck staring up into the sky in a large group. It's more pertinent to call the District completely abandoned. No sounds, no music can be heard here. Nothing except for a single repeating heartbeat. The massive, though fading, full moon still peers down on all who enter Nova Heart District.
[Viper and Chandra: You enter from the south while facing the massive clock tower. You don't immediately see any of your comrades, but Chandra seems to be looking to his right for something. A fog seems to descend into the district, covering much of Nova Square in a cloud of white. Perhaps it's a defensive measure. Or it could just be terrible luck. With your Dagger of the Avatars, it seems to vibrate and the Moon icon on it seems to glow purple. and the Sun yellow.]
[Spider and Patrice: You come in from the north. The District is slowly being covered in a fog. Visibility is down, but you can still see buildings and landmarks. Spider, with Error in hand, you notice its Shard Detection spell, the red cone of light, points towards a large structure about 500 feet away. You can barely see it with your eyes, but the very tip of it is noticeable. Patrice, with her Revolver of Untold Truths, knows the following: "My Master is here somewhere. Be careful. You will not be able to defeat him without me."]
Viper looks down at the dagger as it vibrates, then notices the symbols glowing as she raises an eyebrow and starts pointing it in various directions to see if it's acting like a compass that points to her lovers, if she can find them it'll be more likely that she can find the others. Squinting through the fog Spider follows the cone to that faint outline of the structure. Stopping in her tracks she looks down to Error and asks while shifting uncomfortably from the weight of the faded moon, "that where we're headed?" Patrice looks at the fog, and whispers, "I'll be careful. I have promises to keep, and I'm not planning on breaking them any time soon. Not just yet." The golden gun is pointed straight before her, ready at a moment's notice.
Chandra heads toward the place while calling out, "Viper, I'm going to go check out the Guild. The 9th LIP Module should be over there somewhere." The Dagger seems to vibrate stronger towards the direction Chandra is walking. Perhaps her loves are over there?
Spider reads the following on her dagger: Yes. I sense the LIP Module over there at the Guild. Should be outside of it somewhere. :)
Patrice knows the following: "Understood. My Master's magic is powerful, but weaknesses are plentiful. Thank you for not breaking promises." She doesn't notice anything or anyone in the immediate vicinity.
[The fog slowly becomes more and more dense. Visibility gradually lessens each passing second.]
Spider looks over to Patrice not wanting to lose them in the fog, "Error says it's at the guild, you ready to go?"
Viper nods as she starts walking behind Chandra, while noting the dagger vibrating stronger as she asks "What's up with this fog?"
Patrice looks back at Spider, and takes a deep breath. "Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm ready to go. To the Guild, right?"
With Chandra leading the way to Nova Guild, he mutters, "I'm not really sure myself. I assumed this was connected to Spark's Control Magic, but I'm not really sensing any 'magic' behind it. Maybe it's just a foggy night?" Viper's Dagger of the Avatars reacts to the building itself, but she does not see Luna or Hinata. With Error leading the way, Spider and Patrice arrive at Nova Heart's Adventurer's Guild and Error's cone casts a crimson aura on the LIP Module near the entrance.
[Everyone notices that the entrance to the Guild is wide open, both doors seeming blown off their hinges. The heartbeat increases in intensity. Luna and Hinata are nowhere to be found.]
Viper stares at the building's doors being blown off their hinges as she feels the dagger react to the building and mentions, "I think they're in there already" she glances around quickly to see if anyone else has arrived
Patrice arrives at the Guild. She notices Viper, and relaxes, just a tiny bit. "Hello Viper. Have you seen them yet?"
Spider ignores Viper and instead approaches the doors tightening her grip on Error as they peer inside.
[When the group goes to peek inside of Nova Guild, 5 robed people run out of it, bleeding profusely; their normally white robes stained crimson. They seem to be not doing so well; terrified out of their wits and suffering heavy injuries. One, while deep breathing, mutters, "they're too powerful for us! Every man for themselves!" Considering the emblem on their lapel, they're definitely connected to Nova Heart. Cuts and even some lopped off limbs are on these men.]
Chandra looks on with confusion asking, "what the hell?" Viper's Dagger of the Avatars is reacting heavily to the former dance club turned Guild. Considering it is attuned to her loves, it's most likely they're in there.
With Spider's wolfey senses, she smells the stench of blood and lots of it. Also she's able to hear familiar laughter. Patrice knows the following information: "Nova Heart attempted to capture two more Creatures of Legend tonight, but it seems they were outmatched. Serves them right for being so foolish.”
Viper gives Patrice a small wave, then once she feels the dagger reacting heavily to the former dance club she rushes inside while muttering, "They better not have fucking hurt them" without much of a care for her own safety
Jumping quickly out the way, a sense of unease prickles over Spider at the laughter that causes her ears to prick up and twitch as they detect it. She attempts to grab Patrice's arm before they follow Viper inside and takes a few shallow breaths through her nose trying to smell anything else through the haze of blood. Chandra follows behind. Patrice barely gets out a shot from her gun to the LIP module, imagining the machine shattered and on fire, before being pulled by the arm into the Guild by Spider.
[The LIP Module explodes into flames! 9 down, 1 to go.]
[BGM - Worlds End Guild Hall - https://youtu.be/bVxw8lZwJUA ]
[The stench of blood is much stronger inside the Guild. Spider isn't able to smell much more than that. Everyone in the party hears the following. The voices are familiar, and against Viper's worries, they seem to be happy voices. "Woo! It's nice to bring out Eclipse Blade again!" "Hell yeah! We haven't done this in years! Poor bastards though, they didn't deserve to encounter us." "Tough shit! They wanted us at our best, they got us at our best. Don't fuck with us!" alongside the clanging of metal. It appears to be coming from further inside the Guild.]
Chandra uses his phone flashlight to guide the group towards their destination.
Viper's run slows to a jog as she realizes that her lovers are perfectly fine, though still moving with a sense of urgency. Spider follows behind, thankfully not needing light to see due to her innate dark sight.
"Here's to hoping, I guess," says Patrice quietly as she follows the group. Chandra sighs while walking through the halls and seeing the sheer amount of gore on the walls. "Jeez, I knew my sister was strong, but I didn't realize just how strong. What the hell happened?"
[The walls are covered in gore and slash marks. Despite visibility being down due to the lack of light, it's clear that something happened. Spider especially is able to notice the chaos due to her wolfy senses. The familiar voices continue to chat among each other and seem to come from a room at the end of this hallway. Sounds of running water can also be heard, like from a faucet.]
Spider tenses as she takes in the gristly sight and continues on. Viper glances around and shakes her head as she continues walking forward, trying her best to ignore the gore. Patrice looks around, half impressed, half concerned, before moving quickly on from the scene and following the others.
[Upon reaching the Main Dancehall, the group finds a terribly gore-drenched though shockingly unharmed Luna and Hinata cleaning themselves with the sink behind the bar in the back. They also find a lot of dead people. Like a lot of dead people, all wearing the same white Nova Heart emblazoned cloaks. Neither of them have sensed The Players or Chandra in the dance hall with them. Many of them have parts of their bodies cut off. As they eventually turn around, you notice both sets of their eyes fully crimson. Hinata, after wiping her face off with a wet towel, mutters, "So do you think we're gonna have to do this at Nova Tower too Selene?" Luna shakes her head and sighs, "Dunno Aurora. Maybe? We can probably take them, but I admit, I'm getting nervous for our friends. Last thing we need is for them to see us like this." Luna's voice seems a bit off, like her voice doesn't exactly match her lips. A fiery aura is around her that doesn’t seem to be affecting anything else in the room. A single floodlight lights up the Main Dancehall, though due to the size of the room, it doesn't really light up much. Oddly, though the death count is massive, the scent you mostly smell is blood. The bodies must have been killed rather recently considering the stench of rot is non-existent.]
[Patrice knows the following: "Ah. Two became one. No wonder my Master failed."]
[The pair then hears the door open and they pull out their swords, unsure if it's friend or foe. Luna shouts, "Who's there!"]
Viper looks around the room and covers her mouth in shock at the amount of bodies that are sliced and diced across the floor, she doesn't respond to Luna calling out. Chandra is dead silent when stepping inside, unsure if he should intervene. in an odd twist, it's almost like he's trying to protect The Gang from any further damage, his hands up and glowing with a shadowy aura. Patrice lets out a mouse-like squeak at the absolute carnage before her, before her left hand shot up to cover her mouth, wide-eyed. She doesn't respond to either. Spider gags on the stench of blood that permeates the room. And as she glances around she looks towards Luna and Hinata shocked.
Luna and Hinata turn to face the group. Though their eyes are still crimson, they don't appear to be dangerous. Luna waves to the group, saying, "Oh. Hello. Uhh. Glad we're finally together again." Hinata then hops up onto the bar counter and explains to the group, "So we were attacked by Nova Heart when we arrived in the District. They came at us with weapons and tried to capture us, but they underestimated us heavily!" Hinata then finishes wiping her face off. Luna then finishes up with, "Let's just head towards the final LIP module. Faster we finish here, faster I can take a shower. I can already feel the blood start to crust..."
[Spider hears Error speak.to her directly: Whoa. I'm surprised Krystal isn't releasing them from their Boss Modes. :( Just glad they're okay. :) ]
[None of them see any visible injuries on them. Everything is fine. The Guild is totally quiet.]
Chandra gulps, especially knowing that Eclipse Blade is effectively his fault. Viper waves to them as she uncovers her mouth and shakes her head to clear her mind as she hesitantly asks "Did you two...do this by yourselves?" Luna nods. "Yeah. It was a kill or be killed ourselves situation. It-- didn't really dawn on me how much we did until it was all over. I don't even remember half of it." Hinata nods in agreement, "me neither. I just. It's like we were fighting them off, and then the next moment, we woke up to a literal massacre."
[Eventually, their eyes return to their normal sapphire and emerald respectively..]
Viper nods as she looks around, "Yeah, imagine our surprise when we walked in" she jokes while keeping her eyes exclusively on Luna and Hinata to avoid looking at the carnage around her
"Do I have something on my face?" Luna asks.
[Yes. Yes you do Luna. And in your hair, and your clothes are stained too. Hinata isn't looking much better. Her singular red streak in her otherwise sunny blonde hair is joined by streaks of blood.]
"Let's leave please?" Hinata begs
Chandra nods, "Right, before the LIP outside of here regenerates." He walks out. Everyone follows behind.
When Spider looks down at Error, she sees the following message on its bat surface: It's even weirder than we thought. Neither Krystal, ALAIS, nor my other self released them from their Boss Modes. Be extra careful Spider. I don't like where this is going.
Despite leading the way, Chandra also appears confused about something, pausing here or there while walking to the exit. He turns around a couple times, as if wanting to say something, but then he turns back around. Eventually, the party reaches the exit and fresh air from the blood on the dancefloor. He takes in a deep breath while looking at the still absolutely demolished LIP Module. "To Nova Tower, I suppose. If my memory serves me right, it should be right outside of the entrance. I doubt we'll need to actually go all the way up. Not that that's possible for us anyway."
Viper nods as she sighs and mutters "If only they didn't fire me, debug mode would've been really useful right now"
Stealing herself as her feelings of unease grow with Error's message Spider looks down to it and asks quietly, "can you locate the projectors?"
[Patrice hears the following in her mind: "My Master's control will envelop the wills of the World if he is not stopped. His thirst for power supercedes my wish for truth. Be careful. Not everything may be as it seems."]
Error responds: Yes, I can confirm Chandra's reasoning. It is not on top of Nova Tower but it's near the entrance. We just need to break shit and split. :)
Luna and Hinata are silent while taking in the fresh non-metallic-scented air. Viper huffs as she keeps the Dagger close to her and starts making her way towards Nova Tower as she speaks "Well we better start moving now if we wanna get there anytime soon." Patrice steps outside and enjoys, just for a moment, the fresh air outside. She thinks quietly, "How are things not as it seems?"
[Luna and Hinata nod and lead the way to Nova Tower. They have not spoken a word since they left the Main Dancehall. Upon arrival, they stare at the Tower, perhaps looking for their final target. Chandra tilts his head, "I know I put it here somewhere but where?" Everyone's Shard reacts to the entrance alcove. Spider's Glitch Blade of Error scans a visible-to-all red cone on a spotlight masked within Nova Heart's signage. Viper Dagger of the Avatars has its moon and sun logos still shine red, but the sun specifically blinks. Patrice's Revolver of Untold Secrets shines a golden aura on something covering the Spotlight, perhaps a forcefield of some kind. Luna and Hinata have their blades out, as if preparing to protect their friends and lovers. Hinata seems extremely nervous all of a sudden as she speaks aloud, "I don't like this feeling? Where is it coming from?" Chandra gulps from Hinata's quip and mentions, "Yeah I feel that too. Do any of you? Maybe it's because we have Magical Souls?"]
[Nobody else feels anything strange, but the sound of glass breaking and something seemingly falling to the ground is heard.]
Luna looks up and sighs, "oh for fucks sake. Fine, come on. Of course nothing can be easy." Her blade is out, still stained and dripping. An aura of flame surrounds it.
"It's you? What the fuck are you doing here???" Hinata looks like she just saw a ghost that's floating down to the ground.