(no subject)

[wisdomwithin]

Who: Caster, Oichi, and many others who want to stop them
What: The atrocities begin. The Church will be the first to go.
Where: The Church
When: 1/18/12, during the first sermon
Warnings: Fair amount of violence and gore



The noise had fortunately died down in time for Sunday where drones would customarily flock fraction at a time for worship down at the Church. Without distraction and interruption, the drones and others are allowed to fill the pews and listen to nothing but the word of God interpreted by the drone pastor. Usually a male, he would incorporate his message to achieving prosperity in Mayfield and urge the other drones to be thankful for what they have. The doors closed and the drones sang their hymns along with the melody of the pipe organ an old woman played just at the corner of the room.

They seated themselves. But the organ did not stop. The old woman's hands were off the keys, yes, but from somewhere, the hymn continued. The drones didn't pay this any heed and continued on as if they heard nothing. It was exactly that, however. To them, there is nothing to respond to because there should be no organs playing at this time. The time for hymns has ended long past. This did not stop the song from outside, however. The organ played on, grew louder, and filled the room where the congregation sat.

The doors once closed for the sermon swung open. A robed man with dirty, messy hair and bulging, frog-like eyes barged into the room accompanied by a quiet, morose woman. Caster closed his eyes and stretched out his arms, basking in the warmth of light that filled the room. The drone pastor stopped and told the man to quickly be seated, but it was Caster's turn to ignore him.

"Now! Friends! Now, and forevermore, we stand together here once more in pursuit of salvation that has long since been snatched away by God Himself! The damned are forever damned and the lost and forgotten will forever be abandoned. Our suffering, our cries, do nothing but amuse Him even more!

Then, then what are we, the broken, to do...? If God insists on depriving us of Paradise, why, we shall take it back! We will create our own Paradise here on this world through pleasures and sin the likes of which He, that divine clown, could never have concocted during Genesis. Let us plant the seeds of our Paradise now, starting in one of His houses that He has blessed!

O Lord! Receive my praise! Receive my hate! With a heart filled with jubilation, I shall drag you, venerated God, down from your sanctum! There is beauty within blasphemies, decadence, and sin and it is through that beauty where we make our stand and create our new Eden!

Innocent lambs, feel with every fiber and cell of your being, the salvation that I offer you!"

As Gilles' speech rolled on, the drones found their body involuntarily convulsing. They all felt from within their stomachs something growing. It clawed out at every direction, ever organ, to break free, biting and screaming all the while. Teeth and tentacles ripped through the drones' skin and bodies without anybody spared. The demons cried out into the air, spitting blood and red mist, as if singing along with the hymn that Caster had been playing.

A pipe organ made from flesh sits outside, playing on its own. Its discordant melody spreads through the air, beckoning those near the Church to come. The invitation, of course, is not only limited to the townspeople. Its pierces through worlds and dimensions, drawing forth the creatures that God had hidden away from mortal eyes for being far too terrifying, too flawed. Drones around the Church were torn apart from the inside, leaving only Caster's sea demons to replace them. The Church itself began to turn to flesh as it was consumed little by little by the overwhelming number of monsters.

From within, Caster cackled and danced, spinning around, joyously, at the garden of sin he created.

"Come, come to me! There is none but I, Gilles de Rais, who stands so firmly at the center of Heaven and Hell! Come to me, and I shall lead you! I shall rule you! To those who are shackled, crippled, and forsaken, this is the day we indulge and drink deep from our sins!"

OOC: Feel free to divide into groups! There are people who should hold off the demons seeping out of the Church and those who should storm in and tear a new one into the Master and Servant

Comments

[shotapope]

[He was about to cry more, surrender? What was she talking about? But then a young red head came over and started protecting him. He was confused at first but when she spoke he recognized her voice. It was the girl Esther, she couldn't have been more than a few years older than him.]

Wh-what's going on?

[demonqueen]

[Hmm... who was this strange woman? A Xavist follower perhaps? It doesn't really matter to Oichi. She cocks her head to one side curiously. The shadows, meanwhile, are actually a little quicker than her to identify something as a threat, and several arms rise up between them.]

Are you angry with me? I gave you a chance to survive....

[birthmarked]

I don't know. [Esther tightens her grip on Alessandro. She knows there's nothing she can do to protect him against this woman. She has no weapon and even if she did that wouldn't do much against shadows. She needed to play this smart for his sake.]

What I feel doesn't matter right now. Please allow me to take this child away from this. Whatever is going on here has nothing to do with him!

[demonqueen]

While I respect your great loyalty to your Lord, Muneshige Tachibana, you cannot claim that he is uninvolved. Is he not the Lord of Hetsugigawa castle?

[Yeah, she has no idea where she actually is right now.]

[shotapope]

Sh-she's mad, she's s-s-s-speaking nonsense.

[He can't help but cling to Esther. Why was this happening? Why did these sorts of things happen at all ever?]

/more authorized threadjack ahoy! o/;;

[ex_seventh238]

[By which point a loud boom would resound from outside the Church, before the entrance doors burst open to let through a storm of nail-shaped swords. It's difficult to determine exactly how many, but each one lands without fail on a gurgling mass of shadow that threatened to attack anything else that wasn't one of them.

She didn't need to think. All Ciel knew was that the moment she felt the boundary field she set around the Church churn from within, that whatever was going on must be eliminated immediately. She was quick to get here, though the situation seems to worsen with every assessment. One glance at the outside was enough to confirm these as demon minions, and a quick feel for the mana surrounding the area sufficed to make her teeth grit in immediate realization.

This is the work of a Servant, or at least an entity with a similarly powerful presence.

...No, how powerful the heretical foe is doesn't matter. She won't deny to skip the drone services half the time because conscious citizens don't usually attend them, but generalizations are not absolute, as proven now while she surveys the gruesome spectacle grimly through narrowed eyes.

The Black Keys have pierced all their targets like hot knife through butter. The masses of flesh hit convulse violently before turning limp. She hasn't caught on a line of the conversation that is happening, but all that stood out now was that there are innocents here that must be taken to safety.

Clad in her habits and clutching firmly onto two newly summoned set of Keys, three firmly held between her joints in each hand, she steps in on the path that her previous attack has already cleared, leading all the way up to where Esther and Alessandro stood.]

Please retreat immediately, I'll hold them off!

[shotapope]

[What an amazing entrance, it was divine, like God Himself had sent a savior, only it was that one added variable to the situation that overstimulated Alessandro to a point he could no longer cope. The young Pope did what he was best at, he fainted.]

Caster won't stick around for this battle, but I'll have him throw some words!

[labarbebleue]

[He had stayed silent for now, interested in seeing how this would develop. Admittedly, Caster had been looking for a chance where they could settle some kind of a truce and the boy felt at ease. Oichi seemed to be doing a fair job of that at any rate. Once the boy was at ease, Caster would have his demons grab and consume him, piece by piece of his soft flesh. The screams of both boys and girls were like honey to his bread.

However, there was the explosion and several Black Keys shot downward from the air to destroy his demons. Caster looked at where the Black Keys had landed and then left and right for their source.]

Wh-who...!? Who would dare interrupt our feast with such...

[Of course. A Sister. Her robes were familiar to Gilles although the weapons themselves seemed foreign to his knowledge. He let loose a chuckle as he saw the sight. Was this God intervening to save the day? Hardly. God does not save people nor does he condemn people. He simply toys with them and this Sister is no different. He lets loose a hideous cackle that resounds through the air and lets his presence be known. He steps closer into the light towards Ciel, Esther, and Alessandro.]

A maiden of God has finally arrived to intercept my efforts! Welcome, welcome, welcome, WELCOME! ... Welcome, Sister, to my humble banquet. There is no retreat and I insist that you all stay as my personal guests...

Now Sister, you see that your Church has been desecrated, your holy relics have been stained and broken... everything you see before you is how I think of your abominable God... and yet, I have come today to worship him just the same as you all have.

Shall I pay Him tribute with the untainted blood of his own lamb...? An excellent proposition, hmhm...

Re: Caster won't stick around for this battle, but I'll have him throw some words!

[birthmarked]

[Esther is thinking the same thing as Alec. This woman is insane. The chances of reasoning their way out of it were slipping dramatically. Thankfully God saw fit to send someone who actually could make a difference here. While the prospect of lugging around the unconscious Pope was not a happy one, she'd take it over them being dead any day.]

That voice... Miss Ciel! [She's doing her best here to pick up the Pope and go here. That man is a distraction but, Esther still manages to somehow. She starts to go, keeping an eye on that man even as she speaks to Ciel.] Thank you!

[demonqueen]

[Oichi, meanwhile, is starting to slowly get the idea that the boy may not be who she thought he was. And the person with him would have been attacked her with the lightning edge if it was indeed general Tachibana. So just who are they? And why are they interrupting the attack on this castle?]

Are you retreating? Very well....

[Whoever they are, she'll take that as a surrender and let them go.]

[ex_seventh238]

[--?! Her eyes widen briefly in surprise, though she recovers just as quickly.]

It's okay, miss Esther. Just get to safety, there are people outside who are also helping to subdue these demons! [She can tell since she ran into Minato that there are more outside now, people who can fight and stand their ground. She's seen to it that the entrance has been cleared herself, so this should be enough. As for the battle ahead...]

Honestly, she really doesn't know how this will end. Winning for either side is pointless, but even removing any religious implications in the matter, something like this cannot be allowed to continue.

She takes a quick glance at Caster. She can't fight a Servant by herself, but of course, that other woman there. To take out the Master would be the quickest and most efficient way to eliminate Caster, and while there's no telling if these demon minions will disappear with him, it's the best shot she has. And judging by the fact that the deformed man can summon such a mass of underlings and how thick the air here is, both due to misty blood and the oppressive feel...

It wouldn't be unreasonable to guess that his class is Caster.]

I don't intend to retreat until you cease this. [Though she's not of the opinion that she can reason with this pair either, so she'll completely ignore any of his jabs towards religion in favor of one inquiry, while she is now directly addressing Oichi:] Why are you cooperating with that man, and what is your relationship? [The latter part is addressed towards them both. Would they confirm her suspicions?]

[labarbebleue]

[That's right, feed into their hopes, Ciel. Caster does not object only because a moment like this serves his view of aesthetic beauty quite well. His face displays hardly any emotion, but merely calmness and compliance at Oichi's order. He does, however, use his book hidden beneath his robes to guide a fair amount of the demons around the Church's front doors. By the time they leave through the doors...

But Caster turns his attention to Ciel now. She had just addressed him it seems.]

Our relationship...? Hmhm. Oichi is my Master and a fellow comrade... we both have the same desire embedded in our hearts, to no longer be forgotten and cast away by this town, its people, and God...

And that is why we are here now.

[demonqueen]

I cooperate with him because he is kind to me. Because with his help, perhaps I will finally be acknowledged. Remembered.

[It really is that simple.]

Are you the Lord of this castle?

minor thread split here, Esther's going to run into someone, we'll merge back later! o/

[ex_seventh238]

[So it is.]

You've cast yourself away from God and humanity, Servant. Has the Grail sunk that low, to permit the summoning of a being as twisted as you by the same right as a true Heroic Spirit?

[As for Oichi... This woman is hallucinating. Her cognition has been meddled with at the least. While there may be some merit in trying to break whatever spell's been laid on her, it's extremely unlikely if the Servant is Caster. She doesn't know if this is hypnotism or what, and not knowing this woman at all, the chances are extremely slim.

But as long as they don't move on the offensive and make any attempts on another innocent life, maybe...]

This place is not your home world. I do not know what you are after, but that man cannot give it to you, especially through what you are doing now. I do not know where you think you are either, but this is a Christian Church within the town of Mayfield in America. There is no Lord nor Castle to be found here. [Her sharp cyan eyes shift to a dull blue. It's highly likely going to have no effect, but she may as well try using her Mystic Eyes to snap some sense into the Master who probably has no idea what she's really doing here.]

[birthmarked]

[Esther is heading for the door. She is silently praying Miss Ciel makes it out okay. God why can't she be useful at a time like this and... smash. Esther is suddenly hitting against a wall... or a very skinny chest.]

Ah! [Esther is rubbing her nose. What the hell? At a time like this...] Please stop aside! I have to get....

[Wait.] Father?

1/2

[bloodsugar]

[--and so, in predictably dramatic fashion despite their circumstances, the priest gives a stumble with a squawk of indignant protest at being so CRUELLY RAMMED--]

2/2

[bloodsugar]

[--oh, dear. the situation was... ugly, to say the least.

the priest's hands are on Esther's shoulders to steady her after she just about faceplants into his chest, giving a little 'ooph' as he takes a wheezing exhale to recover -- but she's saved from much more in the way of his usual theatrics. after all... the sight beyond her merits... a great more of his attention than the bruise she'll have later.

the Church is festering. no-- it's brimming, teeming, with something wrong. very wrong. he can spot Ciel's head of hair lost somewhere in the fray among all this chaos -- and it just leaves him a little more tense as his eyes shift back down to the girl before him, surveying her for injury as he gives her a little reassuring smile.]

Esther! It looks like I'm fashionably late, as usual...

[the Pope... his brow furrows softly in concern. this isn't good...]

Is His Holiness alright--? [probably just overwhelmed... he had never had a particularly strong constitution in the face of the monstrous. and this, no doubt, fit the bill.]

[birthmarked]

[Esther nods. It doesn't take her long to get back into her duty driven mode.] He's fine thanks to Miss Ciel. She came in and rescued us. Father that woman she's fighting is confused. The man is the one really responsible for all this I think. We have to find a way to end this peacefully... at least with her. It's too late for those other people but....

[It goes without saving they're going to have to try anyways.]

[bloodsugar]

[ah. so, it was residents at fault for this? he isn't sure whether he's relieved or not -- the thought that it could've been an act by those pulling the strings might've made this much harder to deal with.

Abel gives a decisive nod, before he's eyeing the direction he came from.]

We need to get him to safety first, Esther. His Holiness can't tolerate this kind of violence and it's our job to protect him, no come Hell or high water.

[he hates to leave this to her alone, but-- Ciel is by herself in there with a swarm of monstrous creatures and two seemingly powerful residents who mean the church ill will.]

I can trust him with you to get him to a safe place. I'll go give Sister Ciel some support in the meantime, okay?

[birthmarked]

I understand. I won't let you down, Father. [Esther nods dutifully and moves past him only to pause for one last question.]

Where do you keep the gun in the house? [You know she has to come back here and lend support.]

[demonqueen]

[Oichi's insanity is actually completely non-magical in nature. Her madness is entirely trauma based. And the loger she wallows in violence and blood the more pronounced her delusions become. It is, however, possible to snap her back to reality for a little while, and even if that power doesn't exactly fix things, it will get her to pause and furrow her brow in confusion.]

This is.... not Hetsugigawa castle?

[She glances around.]

No.... It is another place. A Xavist church?

[When she looks back at Ciel, there is a small measure of lucidity deep in her eyes.]

..... Who are you? Did... did Lord Happy send you?

Or perhaps.... my Brother?

[The shadows are once again tightening around her protectively.]

[labarbebleue]

[And here, Caster lets loose a loud, hideous laugh at Ciel.]

You might think so, but in the War, the victor was none other than me. It was my wish that had been granted when my Holy Virgin reawakened... I curse God's name, but He has never punished me in my lifetime or even until the very end.

God is nothing less than cruel, abominable, and arrogant, don't you see...?

[He turns over to Oichi and gives her a concerned gaze. She has been a close ally to him all up until now. It seems like Ciel's words sparked some kind of a reaction inside her.]

Neither your Brother nor your lord has sent her... She has been sent here by none other than God to ruin the feast we have worked so hard to prepare. Then, in the name of God, she will work to smite both of us... for we are abominable in His eyes.

Do not fear, my Master. We have strength in numbers, you see, and we are close to achieving our goals...

1/2

[ex_seventh238]

Are you speaking of Feudal Japan? [Her scowl deepens a little, that sounded Japanese, plus the "Lord" and "castle".] I do not know what you mean by "Xavist", these grounds are Christian. My name is Ciel, I came at my own bidding. [Either way, this madness is something that Caster is taking advantage of.] Your brother is likely not in this world. [She doesn't know that for sure, but again, there's nothing to lose.] You are slaughtering unrelated innocents with your Servant. If you cannot call him back and leave this place, then you will be no choice but resort to force. [She doesn't make any move to attack, but the blades don't disappear from her hands. Her eyes are also on the shadows; defensive is fine. These weak minions shouldn't be a problem, the main concern is again Caster, who might summon more or strengthen them.]

2/2

[ex_seventh238]

[Speaking of whom. She'll turn back, expression shifting from stern concern to cold indifference.]

Yours is certainly the raving of a heretical zealot, but in no faith it is acceptable to kill and corrupt as carelessly as you have done. [She raises an arm, the sharp edges of the Keys pointed towards Caster.] You delude yourself by muddying God's image with your own. You are the abominable one, blinded by the arrogant belief that you may toy cruelly with the lives here as you please. What have you done to that woman? [Because it's impossible that Caster is innocent. Challenging the Servant instead would indeed be foolish, but if the Master is being manipulated and ultimately stands to also be just another victim, then...

...Urk. Well, she can take it, worst come to worst, but until then.]

[demonqueen]

[She listens to Caster with growing concern. So whatever God these strange people worship wishes her to disappear? And Lord Bluebeard as well? That... She cannot accept that. And this 'Christianity' certainly seems like Xavism. The shadows are writhing faster, reacting to her mood. And, in random places around the church single arms will suddenly sprout up from walls, ceiling, and floor, swiping at whatever is there. Sometimes it's nothing at all. She shakes her head desperately.]

No.... No! I have been called back from the darkness too many times. And the sun has left me once again....

[There are tears forming in her eyes, and the shadows around her are swelling up, and have covered her up to her chest. The random hands suddenly stop their flailing, seemingly waiting for something.]

I do not wish to go back! I will not disappear!