Roleplay:We're all Mad Here!

This Roleplay is Closed! Sorry!

Overview
The morning after Sedna's death, the Mythic Knights are still in mourning when they are pushed to continue their quest and hunt down the Queen. With the help of Ann Denerim, they find the Queen's location, only for everything to go south as a new villain shows his mask, and the Mythic Knights learn that it wasn't Madness that was thrown into the world yet, but something far more sinister; Stigmata.

Meanwhile, Saren, now armed and ready to fight the Deciever, faces the man that is slowly stealing his life from him, in a battle far stronger than any he has faced yet. With nothing but Fey's Scythe and the Gifts from Diety at his side, everything is about to change, the Shard of Deciet is here.

Participants
NeoExlucky

Characters
Zero Evol (Neo)

Knave Veron (Neo)

Echo Radon (Neo)

Leah Dubio (Neo)

Trinity Moon (Neo)

Delta Radon (Neo)

Ann Denerim (Neo)

The Queen (Neo)

The Deciever (Neo)

The Rook (Neo)

Saren (who else but Saren)

Natalie Alister (MHS)

Monica DeLouise (MHS)

Ciel Mackenzie Fay (MHS)

Nemi Harper Fay (MHS)

Masako Haruno (MHS -- Odd that I'm listing her last.)

Zapor the Hedgehog (Z888)

Lexi the Hedgehog (Z888)

Part 1: Vengence
Zero and Leah sat at the table, the morning after Sedna's death. Trinity slammed the table, one her of daggers sticking into the wood, some new form of resolve had taken shape inside her. "We need to hunt her down!" Trinity told Zero.

"Gods, give us some time to mourn Trinity, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours..." Zero told her.

"While we're here 'mourning' and feeling sorry for ourselves, the Queen is out there getting stronger!" Trinity argued.

"She's right." Knave told them, walking into the room. "We can't hope that the Masked guards are going to stay hidden forever. Eventually she'll want blood for what happened to her, we need to strike before they do."

"About that..." Natalie emerges from the shadows in the corner of the room. "Masako's already gotten a head start since yesterday. Comms are dead, so I can only hope she's out there clearing a path for us."

"We don't know that for sure, Natalie," Ciel states as she hovered into the room. "We spoke with the Fallen Knight. Most of what she said implied that Masako might do something in her time alone that will endanger us all." She nervously glances around the room. "I know it's not really my call whether or not we can trust the Fallen Knight, but Masako's all by herself right now. Who knows what sort of things she's done, or what sort of people she's talked to?"

"So Masako's gone to look for the Queen? I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Lexi said.

"Speaking of people being gone, has anyone seen Kala?" Leah asked.

"She probably went out, she'll be back..." Zero told her.

"Luckily, we have a contact in the city who owes us one, that might be able to tell us where Conquest is." Knave suggested. "I'm sure Ann has some sort of information that we can use."

As if answering their call, there came a knocking on the front door.

"I'll...get it?" Echo suggested, unsure of how to react to that.

Ann stood in the door, her hands around her back. "We need help." She said immedietely and walked right into the room. "We are dealing with a pretty big problem in the city right now."

"Such as?" Knave asked.

"Currently, we're dealing with something really big that you guys need to see." Ann told them and fumbled with some photographs that had been taken just recently. There were pictuers of mobians and humans with holes in the hands and feet, as well as burns being discovered on their wrists and constant bleeding on the crown of the head.

"What is this?" Knave asked.

"We don't know, it just showed up over night, like some kind of disease." Ann explained. "We've been calling it Stigmata."

"Stigmata?" Echo asked.

"It comes from an old king here, who had banned death by crucifixion. A long time ago, whenever someone was sentenced to death, the most common form of killing them was with crucifixion." Ann told them. "People would have their hands and feet nailed to boards, and ropes tied around their wrists. A crown of thorns would be placed on their heads and people would be left their to die for seven days, and if they survived those seven days, they would just be stabbed with a spear. It was an inhumane way to be killed and it's always a death sentence. These people are randomly experiencing the symptoms of being crucified without anything actually happening to them. People are beginning to die from it already."

"Ouch. So who's doing it to the people?" Zapor asked.

"Something like this seems far from natural. Someone has to be perpetuating this epidemic," Monica said. "Things like this don't just magically crop up overnight. There's gotta be a person at the source, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're connected to Conquest."

"And we're gonna put a knife through his throat, right?" Natalie scoffed.

"This doesn't seem like just any disease to me..." Leah said. "It's being controlled...like some kind of kinesis."

"That's the problem we're having." Ann told them. "There shouldn't be any member of Conquest able to do this."

"She's right." Knave said. "Otogi Citizens don't have kinesis like you guys do, none of Conquest can do anything like this."

"Destruction, maybe?" Echo suggested.

"Destruction would give Madness." Zero said. "Stigmata is something far different than that."

"Like what? Fear?" Zapor asked.

"Pain." Ann noted. "People who are afflicted with it mention feeling a lot of pain."

"I don't think your far off though." Zero told Zapor. "Pain leads to fear and it's fear that will help Destruction rise. If Destruction himself isn't doing it, my bet is that it is someone trying to help him."

"So this guy is a Destruction supporter. Maybe their apart of the third army?" Lexi suggested.

"We might be dealing with something bigger than Conquest. Destruction gives cause to all sorts of fanatics, not just the ones that we can put a name to," Ciel said.

"But if there is someone outside of Conquest doing it, perhaps one of the higher members knows who it is." Zero said. "Like the Queen."

"The power of the Dragon's might be able to do this." Knave suggested. "They are the only ones with kinesis in Otogi and their omnikinetic. Remember, Sedna suggested the possibility that the rebellion is working with Conquest.

"The rebellion?" Ann asked. "We have information that suggests the blue dragons are working with Conquest."

"Here's an idea." Zero said. "Conquest is only after one thing; Destruction's rise. If fear and chaos are what would bring him back, you would start a war. If you stir up fear on both sides, you'd get a lot of that, so what if there wasn't a war to begin with?"

"This entire time, it was Conquest tricking soldiers on both to fight in a war that doesn't even exist." Leah nodded. "That explains how the government knew all of our tricks in Viola City, and why one of the blue dragons was so quick to betray her siblings."

"And how they knew our locations when we fought here." Zero said.

"Ciel is correct, there is the possibility that someone entirely new is involved, we can't rule that out." Delta added. "A meta could easily be able to do this."

"If there's a meta involved, then that complicates things. They're few and far in between, and even if we do manage to find them, you already know what a meta capable of," Ciel said.

"This speculation is getting us nowhere! We need to start looking now," Natalie urged as she paced to the other side of the room. "There's other things that need to be dealt with, and you know damn well what I'm referring to!"

"But where do we even start? That's the issue that hasn't been tackled yet," Monica replied. "We can't go chasing shadows."

"Well," Ann said. "There are some ruins outside of the city but..."

"But?" Zero asked.

Knave looked down. "I know where, I'll take them to it."

"Knave?" Leah asked.

Knave let out a sigh. "I think...maybe we all need some answers. There is a reason I was assigned to be with you guys, I think it's all coming together now. Get ready, because we're going to Camelot."

Paralogue 1: Diety's Coin
The sun had just risen over the horizon. It was almost time for Saren to end this. The gifts were a little strange, those bright orbs seemed to have some form of sentience, they sort of hummed to one another in Saren's head, talking to themselves. It didn't hurt per se, but it was something that the orbs made sure Saren recognized about them.

Diety leaned against the fence, waiting with Saren. "Are you sure you're ready?" Diety asked. "Like I said, this is a battle I cannot see the outcome of, it is sure to be difficult."

"Ready as I'll ever be dude.." Saren shrugged, it was now or never.. He needed to do this, not just because Deceit was stealing his life, but for more personal reasons..

"Okay," Diety said. "There's nothing else anyone can do for you, flip the coin once your ready."

Saren flipped that coin like a motherfecker.

Gold magic whirled around Saren, taking away the familiar surroundings of Eclipse Manor and taking Saren somewhere far away.

Saren found himself in a dense forest. Everything was perfectly silent, no birds or wind, it was dead quiet. The dark sky above left nothing illuminated, leaving it so dark that it was impossible to see. The Aqua Gift appeared out of Saren's chest, giving a soft light to the area around him. The orb let out a simple hum that Saren somehow could understand as "Know this place."

The dense forest showed three pathways, but what was most interesting about this was the large stone gate behind him, black letters had been burned into the stone in some language that Saren could only believe was Draconic. Upon getting closer one would find that they were still warm, as if they were just burned into it. The blue orb was able to understand it and translated it to Saren. "War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. What are we?"

"Hmmm... The four horsemen of the Apocalypse?"

The gate became even more warm in response to Saren's answer and opened up, revealing the dark hall within. The aqua orb let out another hum "Phoenix Temple..." It said. "No...darker..." It seemed to notice that this place was somewhere it should not be, a twisted version of where it may have came from.

"Looks like someone's overcompensating with all the dark themes here.." Saren shrugged, a bored look on his face as he walked through the hall and looked around.

Entering the temple led to hall filled with several different statues of a phoenix all around, The aqua orb illuminated the light over the statues which revealed more text that Saren couldn't read, and an alter at the end of the hall. Behind the alter was a large pitch black room, and standing there was the Deciever.

Saren shrugged, entering the room with a lackadaisical smile on his face; like he didnt really have a care in the world. "So there you are, y'know; you could really use some pointers on how to welcome a guest mate.. The dark and creepy venue just doesn't work for you. Have you tried going for the modern day household look?"

The Deciever let out a sigh as if an annoying coworker had just entered the room. "It's nice to you as well Saren, what do you want?"

"Oh don't be like that, you probably should've seen this coming right..? I mean you are the one currently sapping away at whatever's left of my life right now; and I still have things to do before I eventually kick the bucket for a second time.. See where I'm getting at buddy?" Saren asked, eventually coming to a stop just a few inches away from the Deceiver.

The Deciever shook his head and chuckled. "So here we are again, just me and you, with your special little orbs from that Meta, and the scythe of a failure who couldn't even be smart enough to save herself. Diety thinks that by arming you with the power of 'friends', that you'll somehow be able pull through, but let's be perfectly honest here, you're an honorless, lying coward, who's scared of responsibility and who's too stupid to realize that the power to defeat destruction is the Mythic Knights. You're hopeless, I mean, your so starved for more power that you blindly trusted a voice in your head who gave you a scythe, versus the people who trusted you from the start. I've done a bit of digging on you Saren, and I've found some interesting things. I've learned that you've hurt a lot of people, and there are plenty of them out there who wish you were dead. It seems only fair that those people be the ones to help me kill you."

With that the Deciever summoned a snow white energy to clutter the room and fill it with a strange cold cloud with all seemed to morph and whirl together into a white orb, not unlike the gifts that Diety gave Saren. The Deciever plucked this energy out of the air, and it flew into his chest. The Deciever inhaled very slowly. "So, let me ask, why are you here?"

Saren just chuckled, exhaling and closing his eyes for a bit. "Of course I'm honorless, honor is a fools prize afterall.. Of course I'm a liar; and I accept that.. A coward? Maybe, but I sure as hell wouldn't be here facing you right now if that were completely true now would I..?"

He opened his eyes, that lazy smile still etched on his face. "Hell, you're right about the other things as well; I won't deny it.. But the thing is, you call me all of that, but you probably forgot that it takes an even bigger coward, an even worse liar, an even more honorless pile of trash to know that trash.. Bottom line is; you're an even bigger tool than I am, you just don't know it.."

"As for why I'm here..?" Saren chuckled, opening his eyes and staring at the deceiver with a casual expression etched across his face. "Would you believe me if I told you I'm here on a whim..?" Saren spoke as he twirled Fey's scythe in his hand, finally resting it on his left shoulder.

"You never cease to amaze me Arcturias." The Deciever shook his head.

(Prepare to Just Die - The Deciever's Final Step)

"Let's finish this." The Deciever took his claw and dragged it down his arm, causing a mass of black blood to pool onto the floor, and with that, he quickly appeared behind Saren and aimed to slash down his back.

Saren crouched down to avoid the slash, quickly spinning on his heel he swung Fey's scythe at the Deceivers legs before leaping back, Saren wasn't expecting the blow to connect but if he was able to hit the deceiver in the legs than that was fine; however he seemed to be priortizing maintaining some distance from the deceiver in order to gauge his abilities over blindly rushing in

Trinity's Integrity quickly activated, increasing Saren's speed by a lot more than the Deciever expected, which caused the blade to hit. Neo's Courage also activated causing the blade of Fey's Scythe to chop through the Deciever's legs, making fall to the ground, and create a pool of Black Blood. The other gifts activated themselves as well, giving their power to Saren, although one felt missing from the others, for some reason, Echo's Gift was not activating. The powers of the gifts quickly echoed through Saren's mind.

Orange - Neo's Courage - Increases attack power

Aqua- Trinity's Integrity - Increases attack speed

Blue - Leah's Wisdom - Increases Intelligence

Purple - Zero's Determination - Increases Defense

Green - Knave's Honor - Increases Pain Tolerance (Health)

Yellow - Celia's Cunning - Increases Dodge

Red - Echo's Hope - Allows Saren to Endure

However this didn't seem to help as the room went dark for a just a moment, it could have easily been misunderstood as a blink, but when what little light returned, The Deciever was now face to face with Saren. "This just got a lot more interesting..." He thrust his claw forward, hoping to dig into Saren's stomach.

Saren twirled his scythe in a downward full circle, taking advantage of Trinity's Integrity to alter the direction of the attack to the left using the shaft of the scythe while hopping backwards in the hopes that the scythe blade would embed itself inside the juncture between the Deceiver's left shoulder and neck.

And there the Scythe landed, and Black Blood gushed out of the Deciever. Saren would have noticed that the Deciever made no attempt to move. "Okay." The Deciever said, and lifted his right hand and grasped onto the blade of the scythe, dragging it over the blade unter it finally grasped the shaft. He pulled the scythe out of his arm and rose from the ground. "Now let's really get going." With that the puddles of Black Blood all formed a circle around Saren and exploded, releasing a series of sharped nails to pierce through Saren.

Whether through sheer luck, or Celia's cunning, Saren was able to dodge most of the needles; with some grazing him. "So you're also a copy cat I see? Taking some tricks out of my official handbook?"

The white orb came out of the Deciever's chest and took the shape of Saren for a just a moment before it went back in. "Just using some tricks you pulled on others." The Deciever once more tried to thrust his claw through Saren's chest, using his other claw to grab for Saren's face.

Saren noted the white orb taking his shape for a moment before reentering the Deceiver's chest, but otherwise paid it no mind as he coated the blade of the scythe with light kinesis and tossed it at his foe's chest using a circular motion not unlike a rotary saw when its being used. All the while he hopped backwards and stuck his arm out to recall the scythe whether or not it made contact.

The Deciever grabbed the Scythe right below the blade and gently placed his hand onto the sharp edge, allowing Black Blood to coat the blade, and then harden, finally shattering the blade itself and leaving Fey's scythe as more of a staff. "When are you going to learn that your precious little light isn't going to work against Black Blood?"

"Precious..? Nahhh, I prefer the shadows over the light really.." Saren chuckled, spinning the impromptu staff around. "This reminds me of that one kung fu movie I watched..? What was it.. Wrath of the Dragon? No.. Man with the Iron Fists..?" Saren asked out loud, it seemed like he wasnt taking anything seriously.

"Okay, if that's how you want to be." The Deciever controlled more of his Black Blood to form a square around Saren, rising to the shape of four small walls and a roof, boxing Saren in.

"Oooh, someone's getting mad~" Saren teased, tapping the walls with his impromptu staff. "Salty that I don't take you seriously anymore? That I find you not worth the energy to hate?"

"Stop...Talking..." The Blue orb hummed to Saren.

"Listen..." The Yellow orb hummed.

The faint sound of sand being poured could be heard, but it wasn't coming from outside of the walls, it came from Saren's chest.

Saren blinked, looking at his chest in confusion. '?'

The Blue Orb bestowed wisdom onto Saren, revealing that the sound of sand may be The Deciever draining Saren of his Life Force.

Saren blinked, he had to find a way to stop this.. But how?

The Blue Orb informed Saren that he could stop for a short time by sacrificing one of the gifts. Saren could feel the six working orbs in his chest, all he had to do was kill one, just deciding to kill one would be enough to kill it, no scythe swing or special action about it.

Saren thought about killing the Orange one, swinging his staff at the walls holding him.

The Orange Orb twinkled slowly out of existence, the staff Saren held now felt weaker, like he could shatter the staff in two. The sound of sand being poured was now replaced with the sounds of Neo screaming, as if Saren was torturing Neo, killing him.

The Black Blood walls may have been destroyable, but without Neo's Courage Saren did not have the attack power to destroy them.

The walls quickly lowered as Saren now found himself surrounded by the white energy that had taken shape of all the people who hated Saren.

'.....' Saren blinked. 'Even if these aren't real.. I can't get rid of them.. Damn it Neo.. Hope you can forgive me if that orb was tied to you..'

He looked at the literal army of copies, yeah, a lot of people hate Saren; and most of them he probably never even tried to remember. "Really? Copies man..? I know we hate eachother but come on; at least have the stones to do shit yourself instead of spamming copies."

A tapping on Saren's shoulder alerted him to the Deciever's location. "What copies?" Upon turning around Saren found that the copies had all disappeared. "It sounds to me, that you've just about run out of magic to keep you alive. You're running on fumes now, aren't you?"

"Fun.. Oh well; can't be any worse than my high days.." Saren muttered, swinging the staff at the deciever.

The Deciever raised his arm and the staff swung into it. Saren no longer had the strength to deal damage to The Deciever. "You know what I'm going to do after this?" He asked. "Once your dead, I'm going to go visit your friends. With the gifts you've brought me, they won't stand a chance. All of them are going to die, and trust me, I'm not going to let them die so easily. I wonder how much pain Echo can handle before she finally kicks the bucket, hm? If only you had come a little sooner, I could have gotten to play with that idiot dragon girl. I suppose a death that you caused is just as much fun to watch."

"No, I don't think you will.. Because I am cutting you down here and now!!" Saren hissed, going to headbutt the son of a bitch. "You'll have to kill me first you scum sucking piece of shit!"

Part 2: Camelot
"Okay, run this all by me again." Zero said, as the Mythic Knights walked down a dirt road outside of Crystal City.

"Time Spinner has friends." Knave explained. "And while he was busy prepping you guys, his allies are out there prepping others. Aselia was the one prepping me."

"Prepping us for what?" Echo asked.

"I'm sure it's not that far of a concept to grasp that not every fairy tale is just made-up story." Knave began. "Genies, demons, you've encountered them all. It only makes sense that if the Excalibur Blades were real, that Excalibur was real, and that King Arthur and the Round Table are real too."

"Sure, I suppose that makes sense." Leah said. "But why exactly were you being prepped? Why were we being prepped?"

"You weren't just chosen because you were in the right place at the right time, you were chosen because a good number of us happen to be the new Round Table. According to Aselia, we are reincarnations of King Arthur and his...others." Knave said. "For instance, I happen to be the reincarnation of Sir Kay, possibly one of the worst knights on the table ever, but I was at least on the table. Neo is the reincarnation of the Black Knight, and Fey is our King Arthur."

"Slow down." Zero started. "Why does that matter? What does any of this even mean?"

"Plus what does this have to do with any of the Excalibur Blades?" Zapor asked.

"In a sense, everything. Excalibur was originally a weapon designed to hold one of the shards of light." Knave explained. "When it shattered, the shards of the blade still held some form of their power within it, so when the shards were each taken and reforged into their own blades, they still held that power. The Excalibur blades hold the true power of the Shards of Light."

"Oh. So does anything happen if they're all gathered in the same place?" Zapor asked.

"That does seem to beg explanation. There must've been some reason as to why the shards of Excalibur were deliberately kept apart instead of just reforged into the original blade," Ciel said.

"From what I've been told," Knave explained. "The shard of light gave all of it's power into the blade and it was used for a while by King Arthur himself. However, when the blade was shattered it was decided that all of that power should be spread out amongst those on the Round Table, so that way all that power wouldn't be kept my one person. Thus, the Excalibur Blades were forged."

"You said Neo is the Black Knight, but the Black Knight was never on the Round Table." Leah said. "Why was he reincarnated?"

"Certain people who the shard deemed worthy were reincarnated." Knave answered. "This included people like Arthur's wife Guinevere, and The Black Knight. Aselia has everyone, but I don't know the entire list."

"So, who's who?" Zero asked.

"I don't know everyone for sure." Knave answered. "I know Kala is the Lady of the Lake, although that's not really an incarnation, she was there. I believe Zero is Lancelot, Trinity is Gawain, and Leah is Guinevere. Delta I think is Merlin, which might mean Echo is Morgan Le Fay but that's hard to figure out too soon. Saren is without a doubt Mordred. I believe Masako may or may not be Sir Bors, and Zapor is Percival.. Oddly enough Lexi does not share any trait with any of the Round Table, at least not that I can see yet. She may in fact be Galahad, but that does not seem likely."

"Why's that?" Leah asked.

"Galahad dies." Knave told her. "He drew the Sword from the Stone, went on the Holy Grail Quest, saw the afterlife and died."

"Why does any of this matter?" Trinity asked. "The power went into the Excalibur Blades, so why is this important?"

"History repeats itself." Knave shrugged. "Remember, this is not the first time the Shards of Light have come to the world and tried to defeat Destruction, this is the third. The first was when Time Spinner and the meta used the shards. The Second was when King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the humans used them. The Third time is with the Mythic Knights and the Mobians. Even if the knights themselves didn't have any power, they were still quite skilled and were considered the best of the best."

Lexi suddenly got worried. If she was the reincarnate of Galahad, would that mean she would die? "Um, Knave? What exactly was the Holy Grail Quest?"

"But that doesn't you would die if you were Galahad." Knave told Lexi quickly. "I mean, all the Knights on the Round Table died."

Nemi seemed concerned about Masako now. "...Can you tell us about Sir Bors?"

"Sir Bors was one of the three knights who made it to the end of the holy grail quest." Knave said. "He witnessed Galahad's death. He let his brother Lionel die in order to save a young girl. He fought on Lancelot's side during the war between him and King Arthur. Sir Bors is one of the only knights who survives every quest."

"Wait. If we're all knights of the round table, and King Arthur is getting mentioned, who's King Arthur?" Zapor asked.

"It seems that Fey is." Knave said. "Or at least, that is what Aselia believes."

"You doubt that?" Zero asked.

"I guess I just haven't been around her long enough to tell for certain." Knave shrugged.

"And you keep on mentioning Aselia. Who's that?" Lexi asked.

"Aselia is one of the Meta." Knave answered. "She mentioned meeting you all before, something about a tournament I think."

"The Leo Tournament." Leah answered.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Knave gestured.

Paralogue 2: The Gifts
(Prelude of Destruction - Shard of Darkness: Deceit theme )

"Honestly, I don't even know why you try." The Deciever mocked. "There's nothing left for you in that world or any world. Your worthless to everyone you meet. What, do you think your 'friends' actually care about you? They all know what you really are, the only two people there who may actually like you are an idiot girl who killed herself and a ticking time bomb waiting for the right moment to kill Neo. Your friendships don't matter anymore." The Deciever opened one of his claws and an orange orb of energy appeared above, it was Neo's Courage. Slowly, The Deciever wrapped his claws around the orb and crushed it, sprinkling the remaining dust on the floor. "They're gone. And it's only a matter of time until the rest of your gifts are gone, and then you too. You're an absolute dipshit if you think your puny ass can stand up against a demi-god chosen by Destruction. Alas, it's time to die."

The Deciever grabbed Saren's staff and pulled it away from him, throwing it back into a pool of Black Blood. The sound of sand being poured echoed from Saren's chest. (Kill off another Gift)

Saren only chuckled. "Demi-god you say.. Pffft, not even the real deal..? Man you must be an even bigger retard then I am if you think that you can't be killed~ If it can bleed, it can die~" Saren spat at the deceiver, if he was to die then he was going to spite this piece of shit all the way to the bowels of hell itself; and he would do it his way.. Without sacrificing others like pawns.