Magical Girl Monster Quest

[Walker]

So, I've been thinking about getting into the writing side of questing for a while now, and now I have. Let's see how this goes. Seeing as this is my first attempt, things may get a little difficult, so if it does, I ask you to patiently bear with me.
Here goes nothing!

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In this world, there are heroes. People who rise above and beyond the limits of mere mortals, transcending the frailty of humanity, to become something more. These heroes stand more or less united against the forces of darkness, fighting together for the greater good of humanity. Armed with the power of teamwork, justice, heart, righteousness, excessive firepower, or whatever justification they can come up with, these paragons of humanity always emerge triumphant against the foul forces of darkness.

You are not a hero.

You are the monster. The shadow in the darkness, the ominous looming figure, the spikily-armored evil overlord. You are EVIL, complete with capital letters, dramatic background music, and a thunder track. You are the villain who is fated to be defeated by the hero, because you are evil, and evil never prospers. Right?

Well, we'll see about that, won't we.

You are:

[] A Haemonculus: Forged of the purified soulstuff of humanity, you are a creation of archanotechnical genius (or possibly madness. The line between the two is difficult to distinguish.), whose only purpose is to obey your creator in all things. Being concerned with more important affairs, he has decided to instead assign you to one of his less-distrusted creations, that you may best accelerate his inevitable ascension to godhood. Of course, if you prove to be inefficient, substandard, a failure, or just particularly annoying, you will be terminated and recycled for material. Your lifespan and your power will be determined entirely by your usefulness to your master. Better get to work. Artificial Optimization, Ambivalent Boss, What Measure Is A Non-human, Expiration Date, ???

[] A Youma: Called forth from a world of impossible madness where the only sensation is senselessness, you have been summoned by the Queen of the Dark Kingdom to do her bidding. Well, you've been summoned by one of her lieutenants, anyway, which is close enough. Your primary duty is to secretly infiltrate Earth and collect enough power to unleash your dark master's vengeful wrath upon the world. Of course, you are not their only agent. You're not even an important agent. You are a disposable pawn, and they have absolutely no investment in you. Your survival will depend entirely on your ability and intelligence. And luck. Lots of luck. Literally Magic, Evil Overlord, Murderface, Technically Evil, ???

[] A Daemon: Once, you were a person, a relatively normal human being with a life and dreams just like any other person. Then, something happened and it all went horribly wrong. You could have been a hero. Should have been, even. Maybe you would have, if something had gone a little differently. But it didn't, and what should have been your triumphant ascendancy was instead your tragic downfall. Now, those who you would have called friend will call you enemy and those who you would have condemned as monsters might call you an ally. Might. Made of Darkness, Hero's Lament, Dark and Troubled Past, Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, ???

But enough woolgathering on your part! Better to focus on the here and now! Besides, there's a bit of a situation around you that you feel might just need addressing at some point. Not that you're concerned or anything, you're just trying to preserve operational subtlety.

As you gaze absently at the narrow, dirty, malodorous alleyway you've been deposited in by your erstwhile allies, you can't help but think that they could have at least spared the effort to put you somewhere with nicer scenery. Or at least in a place where it doesn't look like you're about to get mugged by a trio of the local delinquents.

Speaking of local, where are you anyway?

Well, judging from the graffiti…

You're in:

[] Japan: A traditional location for invasions, random monster invasions have basically become par for the course here. The country is very much aware of the mystical side of things, and has protocols and procedures written up for dealing with any mystical misdemeanors. Admittedly, said procedure is often "Stand back and watch while the local heroes deal with it", and there's quite a lot of very effective local heroes, but it also means you'll have a lot of freedom of operation. The biggest threat to you will be the Magical Girls in the area, but the government will make some attempts as well.

[] America: The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Nobody openly discusses the things behind the masquerade here, but everyone knows it exists. Teachers look the other way when students rush out of class making flimsy excuses. The police station has the local Superhero team's number on speed-dial. But the official line is still that magic doesn't exist, and if it did, the government would regulate it. You'll have to keep an eye out for both the authorities and the heroes, but neither side will work together very well, and both will be hampered by the other party's unwillingness to cooperate.

[] Britain: Magic is a secret. People have no idea that it exists, the government is very bewildered, and a significant number of very powerful magical groups are very interested in keeping it that way. The normal authorities will be completely bewildered if and when you decide to act, but if you are discovered by any of the numerous Magi in the area, they will dedicate their entire resources to hunting you down and eliminating you.

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AN: Character Generation is going to be a lot of options, but less action. There will be plot, I promise, but I can't write a plot without a character to write a plot about.

 

[Walker]

Victor Crowne

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Spoiler: Stats

Strength: D
Endurance: C
Agility: D

Intelligence: C
Wisdom: D
Charisma: C

Magic: Kaf
Luck: Moderately Preferential
Destiny: 7
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Spoiler: Skills

Charisma (F) : You speak, and people listen. You understand how people work, and tailor your approach to appeal to them. Provides a minor bonus to all social interactions on a personal level.​

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Spoiler: Abilities

Pride-A King, Immaculate: You are the King, and the King is pure. You are significantly resistant to physical damage. You are somewhat resistant to magical damage. You have a mild healing factor which restores you overnight.
Diligence- The King is Dutiful: You are the King, and you have a Duty. Your physical capabilities are significantly enhanced when drawing on your Sin.
Kavacha - The Armor of the King: Your skin possesses a faint gold sheen, which enhances you in every way. You can also concentrate it to armor yourself.
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Spoiler: Traits

Dark and Troubled Past: You have a dubious and checkered history, one which you have not entirely left behind you. ???
Hero's Lament: You could and should have been a hero, but something went wrong. You are a villain now, or so they say. ???
Made of Darkness: ???
The darkness grows as all light dies

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Spoiler: Inventory

Sword- It's sharp and pointy and you can stab things with it. What more do you need from a sword?
Monocle - It doesn't actually help with your vision. Instead, it lets you see the world in monochromatic Sin-vision. You just wish you didn't see everything in varying shades of purple.
Crown - It looks tacky, yes, but it's actually a mystical artifact of immense power that augments every element of your Sin when worn. Still looks tacky though.
Pendant - It's metal. And a pendant. You honestly don't know why you have it.
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[Walker]

[X] Daemon
[X] Japan


Ah, yes. A daemon. That's what they called you. They said you were a betrayal of the light, a traitor to all that was right and good in the world. They hated you, hunted you, tried to kill you for the crime of being what you are. They came surprisingly close to succeeding, in all honesty. You were impressed, and also rather discomfited. You had absolutely no intention of dying. after all. You wanted to live a long and fantastic life, not die just a few years after awakening your mystical magical superpowers at the hands of some twit in a miniskirt whose idea of combat was to monologue extensively about repentance before trying to kill you. Those magical girls pissed you off, truth be told. Most of them had it easy. They had close-knit networks of supporters who were willing to go to extensive lengths for them. Their allies were loyal and trustworthy, and their mentors were helpful and didn't try to kill them.

No such luck for you, of course. You'd fought and sweated for your power. Every talent, every ability you'd managed, you'd developed through your own persistence, your own intelligence and skill. You had made yourself into what you were today. It was entirely thanks to your own awe-inspiring natural greatness that you were the pinnacle of human excellence that you'd managed to become. As you glanced behind you, at the group of incapacitated Yakuza wannabes crumpled in the alley, you were filled with a rush of pleasure as you basked in the power your Sin gave to you.

What was your Sin?

[] Wrath: You were, as the saying went, always angry, all the time. Violence and murder came easily to you, and you had almost never been bested in open conflict. You were an unstoppable juggernaut, dedicated to destroying all in its path, and you loved what you did. Your powers only made that violence easier. When you were well and truly furious, your Flames of Wrath burned, and everything they touched was obliterated. In a fight, a serious fight, you were at home, and you were unconquerable. Unfortunately, your powers weren't exactly useful outside a fight at the moment. You knew it was possible, of course, you just weren't sure how.

[] Envy: Your first words hadn't been "mama", or "papa", or even "no!", like so many other children. It had been "want". You'd always defined yourself by things other people had. When someone else had something you didn't, you wanted it, and you'd gotten very good at getting it, by whatever means necessary. You could lie, cheat, steal, and blackmail with the best of them, so long as you got something out of it, or someone else got screwed by it. Your Envious Eyes just made it easier for you to take things, by showing you exactly what the best way to take things were. Of course, this didn't make you any less squishy if one of your targets decided to come after you.

[] Greed: People always said that money couldn't buy you happiness. People were morons. Money could definitely buy you happiness, and in the rare situations where it couldn't, it could buy you something that would make you happy. To that end, you'd gotten very good at talking people out of their money, or out of things that could become money. And of course, in those rare situations where no amount of persuasion would serve, your Greed Without Restraint gave your words that extra kick they needed. Now if only fewer people responded to your amicable attempts at conversation with violence.

[] Sloth: You'd seen a lot of people get really worked over a lot of things. You never saw the point in that, honestly. It was far better, in your opinion, to just kick back and relax. Tragically, people didn't always agree with you. Either they wanted you to go places and do things for them, or they wanted you to stop going places and stop doing things. Or they wanted you dead. With all these demands, it was a wonder you found any time to rest at all. Fortunately, your Slothful Timepiece allowed you to create a peaceful eternity between moments, where you could be as lazy as you liked. Now, if only using it didn't take so much effort.

[] Pride: You were the best. You knew it, and everybody else deserved to know it too. Of course, a few fools didn't quite acknowledge your obvious superiority yet, but you'd show them in time. You'd take your rightful place as the God-King of all the Universe soon enough, and no one would be able to gainsay your claim. Any idiot who tried to depose you would be handily stopped by your Immaculate Pride, which made you nigh-invulnerable to harm, mostly. You just wished you could also use it to shut people up.

[] Lust: When you walked into a room, heads turned, conversation faltered, and everyone froze, for just a moment. You loved the attention. Every eye focused on you, and in that instant, you owned them all. It never lasted, of course, but just a few moments with any one person, you could have them eating out of the palm of your hand. And if they didn't like your hand, well, you'd just change it with your Lust for Life, to be whatever their fondest dream was. It would be nice, though, if you could actually get in a fight every so often without being instantly pulped.

[] Gluttony: Other people were lucky. When they looked at things, they saw things. When you looked at things, all you saw was food. It was all you could think about. From dusk to dawn, you were always consumed with a persistent, gnawing hunger. You needed to eat, and you'd eat anything if you had to. And you were capable of eating anything, thanks to your Infinite Gluttony. You just wished that the things you ate were actually filling in some way.


Your pride in your Sin was perfectly natural, in your honest opinion. Few people managed to unlock their Sin naturally, instead of having it forced upon them. Even fewer people unlocked it without assistance, as you had. And practically no one did it as young as you had, which gave you tacit bragging rights everywhere that bragging about it wouldn't get you shot.

How young are you?

[] A Child: Locked by Daemon
[] Youthful: You're a middle schooler, which makes you absurdly young for a Daemon. Your natural talent is inhuman, and if you survive long enough, you'll undoubtedly go far and do great and terrible things. If you survive, of course. You've got a lot to learn, after all, and very little time to learn it in.
[] Young: You're finishing up high school, which makes you impressively young for a Daemon. Your natural talent is surprising, and you'll certainly be a major player when your powers are fully developed. You won't be at the top of the heap, but you'll be pretty damn close. You've already started making your way up, too.
[] Middle-aged: You're in your 20's, with a college degree and a paying job. You're surprisingly young for a Daemon. Your natural talent is unusual, but your power will never be the greatest. You'll rise, and you'll rise far, but you'll never be the boss. That glass ceiling will never break for you. On the other hand, you're pretty powerful already.

But one question still nags at you as you walk down the sidewalk: why Japan? It isn't that you dislike the country, you just don't want to risk the attention of all the local magical entities, of all stripes and sizes. So the reason why you're here has to be pretty important, all things told. You just...aren't sure it's worth this level of effort. And why did the organization pick you, anyway?

Which organization do you work for?

[] Black Legion: The Black Legion is a global organization of darkness and evil, dedicated only to destroying the forces of light and bringing about a new reign of darkness and evil. You've been ordered here by the mysterious and shadowy commander of the XVI Legion, to find a mysterious artifact and retrieve it for him. Them. It. Whatever. More concerningly, you've also been ordered to keep your activities secret, even from the local Chapter. You even have a cover story claiming that you were just here as reinforcements to deal with the sudden upswing in Magical Girls. You're pretty sure this is above your paygrade; you're just a lowly Centurion. Why couldn't the political games be someone else's problem?

[] Circle of Seven: The Circle of Seven is an American cabal of daemons, led by the titular seven, each of whom is a representative of a deadly sin. You're here because they want to expand their operations overseas, and your master has been ordered to make arrangements to that effect by the Seven. Naturally, instead of actually doing the work, she's decided to pawn it off on you. Your duty will be to eliminate or subvert the local supernatural forces, regardless of alignment, and secure the territory for the Circle to move in. Your master claims this is a test of your skill and loyalty. You're pretty sure she's just lazy.

[] Kagemusha: The Kagemusha were a fairly famous clan of dark warriors in Japan, right up until seventy years ago. Then World War 2 ended, messily, and almost the entire clan was wiped out. Since then, they've been building their strength up and preparing to claim their former glory. You, as the heir to the clan, are the linchpin of their hopes. They're planning on using you as a demonstration of their newfound strength, to announce to the rest of Japan that they are once more an organization to be feared and respected. To that end, you have been ordered to eliminate the local forces of good, in as blatant a fashion as possible. The elders have made it very clear that failure will not be tolerated. Better not screw this up.

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AN: Almost to the plot! One more update! Incidentally, if you want clarification on anything, feel free to ask. With regards to powers: Wrath=Destructive Fire, Envy=Bargain PtV, Greed=Diplomancer, Sloth=ZA WARUDO, Pride=Invincibility, Lust=Shapeshifting, Gluttony=Eat everything. Yes, everything. Think Metagaos-lite.

 

[Walker]

[X] Pride
[X] Youthful
[X] Circle of Seven

Spoiler: Pride

Pride is primarily a defensive power. It will not let you shoot fire at your foes, or destroy entire city blocks with your mind. What it will do is enhance your defensive capabilities and ensure you are an individual capable of surviving most things people throw at you. At the moment, your Pride allows you to shrug off physical attacks, up to and including a gang of men with sledgehammers or a melee-specialized Magical Girl without a weapon. You are also resistant to magic, and anyone who tries to use magic on you will find it difficult at best. You're not immune to magic, but you can shrug off quite a bit of punishment. You also heal surprisingly quickly, and a good night's sleep is enough to take care of all but the most serious injuries. Finally, you are somewhat physically enhanced. When using Pride, your physical attributes are all roughly Olympic-level.

As you rifle through the wallets you helpfully redistributed from those friendly young gentlemen in the alleyway behind you ,you can't suppress a smirk. Back in the States, just trying to call on your Sin anywhere but in a safehouse or in a combat environment would have gotten you slapped down hard by your master. Here, you can use all you abilities all you want, and no one will be the wiser. Really, those two-bit thugs should be grateful you let them off as lightly as you did. Why, you're practically a paragon of virtue.

What is your Virtue?
[] Chastity: You are the Greatest, and so you are obligated to rise above others, by your station and by your nature. Your mind and body are, by their very nature, pure. You may choose to let the magic of others simply slide off you like oil on water, and your body is sometimes immune to even the most grievous of harm. You also do not concern yourself with your appearance, for you know you are superior, whether you choose to show it or not. Magical Purity

[] Temperance: You are the Greatest, and you must not permit yourself to fall to the temptations that would seduce lesser men. Your iron self-control ensures that you only permit yourself excesses in situations where you are certain that it will in no way cause you nor your ambition harm. Even when harmed, you do not permit your self the luxury of injury, but instead heal quickly, that you may continue your Work with haste. Superior Regeneration

[] Charity: You are the Greatest, but you recognize that others cannot match your greatness. Nonetheless, their aspirations to do so are commendable, and ought to be lauded. It is difficult to improve oneself, and impossible to reach the standard you set, but you applaud all those who try nonetheless. Your approval, moreover, is greater than the approval of normal men. If you so choose, you may bestow a measure of your invulnerability on others. Aura of Protection

[] Diligence: You are the Greatest, and you have earned it. Others come to power through luck, though accidents and coincidence. You have earned every iota of your power, and going forward, you will rise through your own effort and dedication. You have bled, sweated, and wept for your power, and your power has grown because of it. You are more difficult to harm, and you are physically augmented while your power is active. Physical Enhancement

[] Patience: You are the Greatest, and all will know it in time. Your power is self-evident, and you have no need to prove it, for your excellence is obvious for those who have the eyes to see it. Those who cannot comprehend your magnificence will do so in time, and you are willing to wait as long as it takes to ensure they understand your supremacy. Your power allows you to accelerate your personal perception of time to an immense degree, effectively letting you outspeed everyone else for short periods of time. Bullet Time

[] Kindness: You are the Greatest, and your supremacy has come at a cost. You have struggled and fought through many hardships to earn your power, and you acknowledge that the hardships of others are as painful as your own. You know that life is nasty, brutish, and too often short. But it need not be so. You have the power to change that, and the obligation to change it. You will make the world better for everyone, and your power will aid you in your endeavour. Already, it allows you to heal the sick, the injured, and the unwell. Healing Touch

[] Humility Locked by Pride


As you amble down the sidewalk towards your new apartment, dragging your luggage behind you, you contemplate the possibilities before you. True, the task you've been given is a difficult one, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. It just means it's difficult. Apprentices, even senior apprentices such as yourself, are not often permitted to leave the enclaves of the Circle. Perhaps it's because the Circle fears that you will be hunted down and killed by one of the many enemies the Circle has made since its founding in 1692. Or maybe the Circle just doesn't trust those few apprentices (such as yourself) who are powerful enough to be tasked with duties such as these, yet still independent enough to decide to, for example, strike out against the Circle and establish themselves as a master of their own demesne. Regardless, this bodes well for your Ambition.

What is your Ambition, anyway?
[] To rule an entire Domain of the Circle (Destiny 3)
[] To be the most powerful Daemon in the world (Destiny 5)
[] To become the God-King of the Universe (Destiny 7)
[] Write-in (Must be QM-approved)

Spoiler: Destiny

In this quest, Destiny is an aggregate quality which represents a number of things. First, Destiny represents a general powerlevel. A Destiny 5 magus who casts the same effect as a Destiny 4 magus will simply get more out of the spell. Second, Destiny also shows the relative level of narrative importance and plot armor the entity in question has. A being with Destiny 5 has more influence on the world around them than a Destiny 4 magus, can create greater changes simply through personality and behavior, and is more likely to survive drastic and shocking events. Finally, Destiny also determines how closely a character must adhere to their pre-established concept and persona. A Destiny 5 mage is less able to act out of character or choose to do things that do not fit their concept than a Destiny 4 mage. In short, Destiny represents your narrative importance, your powerlevel, and your ability to act organically instead of in line with your concept.

At Destiny 1, you are a side character, a minor side note,, quickly forgotten, like Morga from Sailor Moon. At Destiny 3, you are a side character of some significance, like Gurio Umino. At Destiny 5, you are a significant side character, like Hino Rei or Ami Mizuno. At Destiny 7, you're almost the protagonist, like Luna, Beryl, or Mamoru Chiba. At Destiny 9, you are either the protagonist, the antagonist, or a MacGuffin, like Usagi, the Ginzuisho, or Metallia. Destiny 10 does not happen, barring unique circumstances.

For a few pleasant moments, you lose yourself in fantasies of what it might be like to fulfill your Ambition and truly express your greatness in all the glory it deserves. You're certain it will come to pass. After all, you have the power, and you certainly have what it takes to be what you want to be. And when you have reached your goal, it will be such a wonderful thing.

With visions of glory and greatness floating in your head, you fumble with your keys and pry open the door to your new apartment.

And stop.

The apartment is empty. There are walls, a floor, a ceiling (complete with lights!) and a very nice window. Nothing else. Now you know why your Master mentioned your apartment might need some touching up.

You are going to kill your Master.

Several hours later, having finally secured actual furnishings for your apartment through judicious use of the funds you appropriated, you collapse exhausted onto the couch. Never have you wished more that you had been allotted actual minions, so that you could make them do the work. You stagger over to your newly furnished bathroom and stare at the mirror.

Who looks back at you?
[] A boy
-[]

Spoiler: Appearance 1

Spoiler: Appearance 2

Spoiler: Appearance 3

-[] Write-in
[] A girl
-[]

Spoiler: Appearance 1

Spoiler: Appearance 2

Spoiler: Appearance 3

-[] Write-in

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The QM is not good at finding images (weeps internally). Write-ins are encouraged for that part of the vote. Please spoiler your images.

 

[Walker]

[X] A Boy
-[X] Appearance 2
[X] Diligent
[X] God-King of the Universe

As you rush out the door to your first day of school, you pause to check your appearance in the bathroom mirror. Yup, still immaculate as ever. Briefly, you reflect nostalgically on the perfection that is you. Truly, your visage is the very model of perfection. You've earned it too. You have worked for everything in your life, and have been rewarded in commensurate measure. Now, if people would just stop calling you cute and start calling you regal! You are the future God-King of the Cosmos! You are not cute!

Comforting yourself with the thought that you will soon be able to order anyone who calls you cute executed, you amble lazily out the door to your new middle school. Absently, you glance at the clock hanging on the wall. Yes, you have plenty of time to walk slowly to your new school instead of running in a panic while carrying your breakfast. Ah, the wonders of proper preparation.

Speaking of proper preparation...Absently, you flip to the school's web page on your phone. You will be attending Kunugigaoka Lower Secondary School, as a 3rd year. Apparently, your test scores were high enough that you are going to be directly admitted to the class for your age. You've been assigned to class 3-A, which is in building 2, according to the map they've e-mailed you.

You glance up at the gate in front of you. You think... yes, you can see the building you'll be in, just behind the Upper Secondary School building. The gatekeeper gives you a stony look, until you introduce yourself as the new transfer student, at which point his unfriendly glare is replaced with a less unfriendly glare. Helpfully, you show him your authorization papers on your phone.

He grunts affirmatively. "Missed orientation day, did you? Go to the office before you go to class, they'll give you your preparatory package." You smile politely and thank him, before heading in towards the Secondary School office. They do indeed give you a package, a manila folder absolutely brimming with documents. How exciting, you muse to yourself. You love documents, especially when they're useful. And these documents? Look to be very much like the useful kind. You've got a complete map of the school, you've got a complete school rulebook, you've got a student ID, all sorts of fun things you can put to good use. You smile as you tuck the packet away. This will almost certainly come in handy soon.

The first detail that strikes you as you enter your classroom is how sparse it is. You would have expected such a prestigious classroom to be more...decorated. Instead, you have a bare wooden floor, bland and unremarkable desks, uncomfortable looking chairs, and a teacher's desk that looks newly assembled and completely unused.

The room is also nearly empty of students, with only a few here early. They all appear to be engrossed in their studying, to the point where none of them have even noticed your arrival. You quietly enter the classroom and take a seat next to the windows, which face towards the edge of the campus. You decide you ought to catch up on your studies as well. Your studies are just of a slightly different nature.

You see, you did your research before coming here. So you happen to know which Magical Girl groups happen to be in the area. Moreover, you've also compiled short summaries of all the information you could find about them.

What Magical Girl groups that you know of call this district of Tokyo their home? (Pick a minimum of 2, groups which get at least 50% of the vote will be included)

[] The Princesses: This group of six Girls, naming themselves after the five traditional elements (fire, water, earth, wood, wind) and one very nontraditional one (heart), claims to be the reincarnation of the royalty of a previously globe-spanning kingdom, born in this era to fight a great evil and reestablish their holy empire. Understandably, this has caused some friction with the authorities. All of the Girls in this group specialize in fighting from range using a single attack named after their element of choice. They survive mostly because they have access to immense and overwhelming power instead of any skill.

[] The Choir: A group of four musically themed Girls, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass. These Girls claim to have been chosen by a kingdom of light to bring hope to the world and banish the forces of darkness. All of their attacks have a musical theme, but they each specialize in a different area of combat. They have been around for a while, and it shows in their teamwork. Though not very impressive in terms of power, their ability to work together to execute even the most difficult strategies more than compensates for their weaknesses.

[] The Warriors: Unusually, this group of Magi are actually Magical Boys. While not unheard of, it is rather rare. There are also seven of them, which is an unusually large number. They all wear color-coded armor, and wield various weapons of immense potency. Their leader is Warrior Red, the fire user with a sword. The other elements are Blue (Water), Green (Air), Brown (Earth), Whie (Light), Black (Shadow), and Grey, whose element you don't know. Yet.

[] Collateral Damage: Not so much a formalized society as a group of martial artists who have learned to use ki to enhance themselves to superhuman levels. All of them have significant combat experience, and are well-trained, and there are a lot of them. On the other hand, they're severely lacking in the power department and are horrifically disorganized. They act as a society of do-gooders who voluntarily patrol the streets, looking to help people.

[] The Kaleidoscope: A trio of Magical Girls who go around claiming that what they do is actual magic. They also claim that their ability to use this magic comes from their mystic wands who are sentient and have apparently been training them. They spend most of their time flying to random places, disappearing and then reappearing the worse for wear. When they faced actual enemies, they did the same thing, only the enemy never reappeared. You feel rather uncomfortable with so little information on their methods of combat.

As you finish your reading, the rest of the class files in. The teacher enters the room at precisely 8:30. She is a thin, severely-dressed woman, with a voice that is roughly as friendly as her appearance. She begins class by ordering all of you to introduce your selves by name and where you expect to be in twenty years.

You, of course, reply with the simple truth.

"My name is {WRITE-IN} and in twenty years, I will be ruling the world." The entire class double-takes at that one.

Most of your classmates give bland, boring answers. A few of them, however, give answers that stand out, either because of their delivery or the intent they declare. You daresay your own declaration was memorable enough.

You pay particular attention to one declaration, seeing as the speaker in question is sitting next to you.

Which plot hook person do you encounter first?
[] A lazy-looking redheaded boy with a strange smile. He expects he'll be asleep in twenty years.
[] A thin, black-haired girl, sitting so straight she looks like she's been bolted to a ruler. She expects to be an accountant. (She's lying. Badly)
[] A red-haired golden-eyed boy who proclaims that he wants to Save Everyone, complete with capital letters. He sets your teeth on edge.
[] A quietly humming girl with glasses who wants to be an opera singer. Something about that tune seems familiar...
[] A large, threatening boy with a strange hat that almost blends into his hair. His ambition is muttered too quietly for you to hear.
[] A ditsy-looking blonde who proclaims she wants to be a doctor and heal people. Her naivete makes your skin crawl.
[] A thin wispy boy with glasses, who clutches his book to his chest and proclaims that he wants to run a library. The book looks like a grimoire.

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QM: The more heroic groups you choose, the weaker each group will be, as their Destiny scores are split among all the individuals in all the groups. If you're annoyed by the inevitable school arc, there will be an option to fake an accident and "convalesce" for a few weeks. I don't know how I feel about this update, it seems as though something about it just didn't click. An internet cookie to anyone who catches the references I've made in my four story posts so far.

 

[Walker]

[X] Victor Crowne
[X] A thin, black-haired girl, sitting so straight she looks like she's been bolted to a ruler. She expects to be an accountant. (She's lying. Badly)
[X] ALL OF THE HEROES. ALL OF THEM.

You've never liked your name, you must admit. It's impressive enough, and certainly apt. But nonetheless, it grates on you. It seems to imply that you've been chosen to rule, that you are fated to be the King. That irks you. A king does not rule because of fate, or justice, or righteousness, or any other of a thousand concepts. A King rules because he is strong, because he has power, and because he owns his power-has earned it instead of having it handed to him. Not like all those do-gooders out there who claim to have the power to determine morality simply because something else decided to give them a leg up over their fellow man. The martial artists you can respect - they've earned their power, they fought for it and bled for it. The Kaleidoscope trio you'll reserve judgement on, seeing as they have mentioned that they had to train for their power to the authorities. The rest of them? Don't deserve the power they've been handed.

You sigh, and refocus back on class. The teacher has finished lecturing about the necessary responsibilities of students to uphold the prestigious standards of this respected establishment and has moved on to the topic of the necessary responsibilities of students to uphold the prestigious reputation of this respected establishment. You pay just enough attention to the teacher to catch any important topics she might mention. There aren't many. You take note of the fact that apparently the Class Representative Elections will be held soon, which might be an amusing diversion. She also keeps warning students that if their academic performance is unsatisfactory, they may be shifted into a lower class, which you should probably be careful about. The remainder of her speech is meaningless drivel which does nothing but grate on your ears.

It's boring. You're bored. Why do other people love the sound of their own voices so much? You sigh. Isn't there something more interesting to do? Why couldn't you have picked another school where people would have the decency to talk less and would instead- Oh, she's stopped talking.

Having finished her sermon, she promptly informs the class that the math teacher will arrive in five minutes and leaves. Naturally, the entire room breaks into chaos, with children doing childish things with each other that you, of course, are too mature for. Instead, you decide to start looking to establish a powerbase in this school. A King must have servants, after all. And where better to start than with your erstwhile neighbor? With your incredible charisma and mastery of social skills, you'll have her eating out of your hand in no time at all.

You smile warmly and turn to your neighbor.

Spoiler: Image

"So, what did you think of our teacher's speech? Not very interesting, was it?"

Mutely, she glares at you. You can practically feel her disdain.

Undaunted, you continue. "I can see the need to remind students of all the minutiae of school life they may have forgotten over the school year, but a 45 minute lecture on the virtues of upholding the reputation of a school they've already been fighting tooth and claw to stay in? A little much, don't you think?"

Her murderous glare intensifies. Happily, you note that her perfect posture has been abandoned in favor of allowing her to glare at you more intently.

A little bit more, you silently muse to yourself. "Of course, maybe they just want to make a point to all the students? Remind them that no matter how far they've managed to come, they can still be reduced to the ranks of the masses? Motivate them, by showing them the consequences of failure? I'll admit, it seems like a sloppy style of rule to me, but that's not for me to judge, I supppose?"

Her glare is now so incandescently furious that you feel as though you might burst into flame at any moment. If looks could kill, not only would you be dead, every single person remotely related to you would be dead, as would the majority of their past lives and possibly their future ones as well. One more push, you think silently.

"Ah, but where are my manners? I have been remiss in not introducing myself! My name is, as you are undoubtedly aware, Victor Crowne! And you are?"

"Nakadai Kaho. Go away." she all but snarls through gritted teeth. If words could kill... well, you get the idea. Her glare has also managed to grow even more intense, and even less amicable. You have to admit you're impressed, for more reasons than one.

The sheer level of hatred she's emitting is astounding. Why, if you didn't know better, you might almost call her expression...Wrathful. But of course, it would be absurd for a middle schooler to be even aware of their Sin, let alone channeling it. You'd call it impossible, but, well...you yourself are the living disproof. Nonetheless, she has the potential. Perhaps, through proper education and hard work... you've been wishing for a subject for a while now, haven't you?

Then the teacher enters, and all thoughts of potential future leadership (and potential future minions) are replaced with an intense and emphatic loathing for all things remotely related to Japanese literature. Is it so hard to just use a proper phonemic alphabet instead of this stupid syllable-based logography they use?

Three hours and much pain later, you are very ready to be done with all this. Is a cover identity with actual schooling really necessary? Intellectally drained, though looking as dapper as ever in your uniform, you glide confidently to the cafeteria to collect your lunch. You wait magnificently in line, collect your food from the server with grace and elegance, exquisitely select a location to sit and eat in, and ingest your first bite of lunch with dignity and decorum.

You spend the next ten seconds choking and trying to get the horrendous taste of the abomination they claim is food out of your mouth. How much, exactly, are you paying to attend this place again? Fortunately, the classroom is empty. You're really quite glad no one saw the way you reacted to that, even if your reaction was justified.

As you sit there, staring at the thing that is supposed to be your food, three of your classmates enter the classroom, and, surprisingly, make a beeline for you. You don't think you remember any of their names, and you're certain you haven't interacted with them before, so why are they approaching you now? Perhaps they've come to swear eternal loyalty to the future God-King of the Universe?

"Aw, does the poor new boy not like his food?" the tallest one taunts.

Or, they could also be utter morons with a deathwish. That's also possible.

"Poor boy," the second continues. "Maybe 'e misses 'is mama's cooking?"

You stare more incredulously. Did they rehearse this?

"Here, we'll take care of that for you, alright? Just give us your lunch money every day, and we, your kind and gracious seniors, will ensure that you are well taken care of." The third continues.

Desperately, you resist the urge to facepalm. What kind of morons... you muse to yourself.

How do you resolve this situation? (This will have a significant impact on Victor's future approach to conflict.)

[] Ignore them. They're not worth your time. There are far better, more interesting things you could be doing. If they were worthy of your attention, you'd give it to them. They're not, so you wont.

[] Use violence. You're all middle schoolers, true. But only one of the four middle schoolers in this room is combat trained, has supernatural powers, and actually gets regular exercise. Besides, if they try to complain, no one is going to believe that the new cloudcuckoolander student with the innocent smile intentionally picked a fight with three ruffians.

[] Use diplomacy. You've got better things to do with your time, and surely they can think of other things they can do that won't involve them getting suspended or expelled?

[] Leave. If you stay here, they're going to keep annoying you until you snap or do something unwise. Better to remove yourself from the situation before you act in a manner that might jeopardize your cover.

[] Comply with their demands. Haha, no. Not happening. (Locked by Pride)

[] Write-in


After that moment of unpleasantness is resolved, the remainder of your school day continues mostly as normal. Mathematics is just as easy for you as it always has been. Science, too, is apparently universal. Planck's constant is in fact constant, regardless of whether you're in America or in Japan. You just wish that you were lectured at less. Every single class in this place takes the form of a lecture. Every. Single. Class. It irks you so much.

Finally, the day ends. All of your classmates, including dear Kaho, scramble to stuff all of their belongings into their bags and get out of this torture room. You, of course, calmly place your possessions in the bag. Scrambling is for peasants. Having neatly packed your items away, you stand- and stop.

After 3:00, when school ends, students in Japan are expected to attend either a club or a cram school, though neither is mandatory. You've just spent seven hours learning. You're done with school. But these clubs sound interesting. Should you check one out? Or should you do something else with your free time?

And then it hits you.

You have Free Time.

No master, yelling at you to do work. Or clean the compound. Or do her paperwork. Or rewrite Parmenides' proof of existence.

You.
Have.
Free.
Time.

You have three slots of time to fill. Pick three activities from the following list.

[] Check out a club. Maybe they have something interesting for you to learn. (Max 1)
-[] Which Club? Write-in.
[] Scout the area. You have maps of the area, of course, but it's always better to have personal knowledge of the locale. (Max 1)
[] Do some more research on the local heroes. You're sure you can find out more about them in their home country.
-[] Go out and talk to people at some reasonably social location. There's no way that can go wrong.
--[] Which group?
-[] Check the internet. People are always discussing information on the internet. It might even be useful information.
--[] Which group?
-[] Try to get in touch with one of the local hero groups, see if you can contact them.
--[] Why?
[] Try to figure out what's up with the local forces of darkness. Your dossiers on them are woefully incomplete.
-[] Spend several frustrating hours negotiating with someone back at the Enclave for information. Hopefully they have something.
-[] Go explore shady and possibly illegal locations. You're almost certain to find something there. It might be mundane, though.
-[] Search the city for locations with higher densities of Sin. Maybe you'll find something supernatural.
-[] Search the city for locations with lower densities of Sin. Maybe you'll find something interesting.
[] Practice more with your powers. You have so many ideas now that you're out from under your master's thumb.
[] Hit the books. Get a head start on your studies. You're ahead of the curve for now, but that might change in the future.
[] Hit the books. Start looking through the books your master had you bring. You've read most of them, but there might be something new.
[] Start unpacking your other gear. See if you've been allotted any useful equipment.
[] Do some research on the local cosmogony and theology of Japan. There's a lot you didn't have the time to research.
[] See about socializing with your classmates - especially Miss Nakadai Kaho.
[] Write-in

[Contact Acquired!]
[Nakadai Kaho: Always Angry, All the Time]

---

QM: This update was supposed to be ~900 words. I don't even know. Rest assured, no matter which method of conflict resolution you choose, there will be no lasting in-story effects from this incident. Also, Diligent is sparing you a lot of work in the background. As always, feel free to ask questions.

 

[Walker]

[X] Use diplomacy. You've got better things to do with your time, and surely they can think of other things they can do that won't involve them getting suspended or expelled?
[X] See about socializing with your classmates - especially Miss Nakadai Kaho.
[X] Scout the area. You have maps of the area, of course, but it's always better to have personal knowledge of the locale. (Max 1)
[X] Try to figure out what's up with the local forces of darkness. Your dossiers on them are woefully incomplete.

You smile wryly at them, which seems to unnerve them somewhat. They're clearly not expecting someone of your caliber. They probably thought you would either comply or start a fight, and they seem to think they have a numerical advantage. Which is true, but insufficient. But, as they say, violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. And you are not incompetent.

"Gentlemen," You interrupt. "I want you to think about this for a moment. The price of a school lunch here is roughly 400 yen. The school lunches are also tasteless, flavorless, and have the delightful texture of an ornery cat. Why, then, you would risk suspension or expulsion as a punishment to get one? Moreover, most people, including myself, pay for school lunch online, over the internet, so we don't actually use physical money that you could take. And you couldn't take me in a fight anyway, so I have no reason to fear you enough to give you my money in any case."

"Besides," you note as two more students whose names you don't care to recall enter the room, "I"m quite certain both of those lovely ladies over there would be more than willing to attest that you three started the fight. After all, no one is going to believe that the cute new transfer student willingly picked a fight with three unsavory bullies, are they?"

"On the other hand, if you three are willing to go away and pretend this never happened, I'll do the same, and we can go back to loathing our school lunches in peace. How about it, gentlemen?"

They exchange glances. The biggest one, the first to speak, makes some vaguely threatening noises before all three of them turn away and stomp out of the room. You smile proudly. Your immense charisma has saved the day without resorting to such pedantic solutions as violence once more. Truly, you are the greatest. Now, you just need to find a solution to your lunch problem.

That solution comes from the most unexpected of places. You take it upon yourself to..acquaint yourself with your classmates, seeing as one of them has already proved herself so interesting. The advice you get is simple: Don't buy lunch at the cafeteria. Buy lunch from the student-run Associated Store. It's cheaper, it's healthier, and most importantly, it actually tastes like food.

See? Your classmates are proving useful already! You smile warmly at the group surrounding you. This conversation continues to be a proverbial goldmine! You'll never have to deal with those terrible school lunches again!

Absently, you turn the topic to other things you ought to know as a newcomer to the school. For the most part, the advice you receive is rather mundane. Which teachers are strict or lenient, which classes you actually need to study for, which uniform modifications are or are not permissible, that sort of thing. Some pieces of advice, however, are not.

Apparently, there are factions in this school. Three of them, to be precise. There are three 'Kings' who collectively rule the school, and all of the students are expected either to join a faction or remain completely uninvolved. The three factions are known as the Arbiters, the Suits, and the Delinquents, and apparently, they are a taboo subject. That, or your classmates have all spontaneously and simultaneously developed an impressive sense of paranoia. You smile and switch topics, which they apparently find very comforting, from the way they relax.

Throughout these conversations, you occasionally bring up Kaho. The responses you get are simultaneously surprising, and yet not. Apparently, she's an unfriendly, antisocial girl with impressive anger issues, who had a reputation for getting into fights when she was younger, often because she was too proud for her own good. Then something changed when she got into middle school, and she started doing her very best to conform to Japan's cultural norms. Her success was debatable, considering that she attended no clubs, avoided school events, didn't have friends, and spoke exactly as much as was necessary and no more. No one even knew where she ate lunch. If you want to get closer to her, you have your work cut out for you.

Thoughts of your inconvenient classmate fill your head as you scout through the ward. It's a large place, to be sure, but the least you can do is familiarize yourself with it. You need to know the area you'll be operating in, after all. You may be confined to the district at the moment, but you have every intention of expanding significantly, as soon as you have a stable powerbase. First the district, then the prefecture, then the city, the country, and THE WORLD! and then the universe, of course.

Of course, securing the area you're currently operating out of comes first. You sigh, and continue noting down possible locations for dramatic confrontations or important meetings, as well as appropriate escape routes from those locations. It's always important to be prepared, whether you enjoy the preparation or not. After all, the preparation always pays off in the end, and the reactions being properly prepared can get are amazing. It's simply another reason why you-

You freeze.

You feel something nearby. Something...Sinful. Except, you're on top of a hotel, one fairly well-known in the area. And the Sin is potent and concentrated. This...could be a problem. Quietly, you note the location down on your mental map and move on. You honestly don't know if you could take whatever has generated this Sinful presence in a fair fight, and you're opposed to fair fights on principle anyway.

Things only escalate from there. Now that you know there's something to look for, you notice that the entire area is coated in a very light, very gentle coating of Sin. To coat an entire area, without tainting or marking it, speaks of both immense skill and incredible power. This isn't just beyond you, it's probably beyond your master and any two of her colleagues as well. You...may have a problem here.

Your suspicions are confirmed about half an hour later, when you see the Princesses run into a Youma of some kind. You don't know what Domain it's from, which doesn't mean much. There are literally hundreds of thousands of domains, after all. No, what you find concerning is its opposition. It's a possession-type, which means that it hijacks the body of another being to affect the world. Par for the course, really.

For the Princesses, however, this is apparently an entirely new phenomenon. They spend half the fight dodging it's sonic and energy blasts (barely), and arguing over how to stop it without hurting its host. From their dialogue, ignoring all the proclamations of Justice and Righteousness, you glean four very important facts. First, this is not the kind of Youma they've been fighting. They have apparently been fighting something that instead manifests itself directly into the world - which means that either the Youma is immensely powerful, or it has an extremely powerful summoner. Second, there is some kind of conflict between Princess Fire and Princess Earth, as both of them try to give orders simultaneously, and spend thirty seconds in a shouting match before Princess Heart intervenes and overrides them both. Third, they have some kind of contact with the Choir, as Princess Water mentions contacting Alto to see if she has any information on this new type of enemy. Fourth, Princess Wood at the very least goes to your school, as she makes an offhanded comment after the fight about how her science teacher wants the entire class to memorize the periodic table - which your teacher also wants.

You ponder this idea as you lean down to inspect the man the Princesses have so helpfully left lying in the street after eliminating the Youma with some kind of purging attack. It seems like every Magical Girl has one of those now, when they used to be so rare as to be almost unheard of before. You sigh, and keep examining the man. Unfortunately, Princess Heart's Beam-of-Fuck-You (you didn't hear what she called it over the blasting of the Youma) has eliminated most of the clues you might have used to figure anything out. You do find one interesting tidbit. The man is humming, and the tune seems to almost resonate with something deep inside you. Just hearing the tune makes you feel sorrowful.

Then the police show up, and you have to do quite a bit of fast talking to excuse yourself. You manage to pass yourself off as a concerned citizen out for a walk, when he saw the Princesses fighting and hurried over when they left to try to help the man. The police officers on the scene applaud your heroism, and tell you not to do it again. You assure them that you have no intention of doing any such thing, and head home quickly. You've discovered quite a lot this night, and it seems you have a lot to think over.

Your sleep this night is troubled. You toss and turn for an interminably long time before sleep claims you, and even then, your dreams are troubled and strange. What do you dream?

[] Once, there was a maiden...who struck an iron wall until it shattered her hand
[] Quoth the Raven, Forevermore
[] Seven Seals, Seven Rings, Seven Brides for the Scarlet King
[] My name is OZYMANDIAS, King of Kings

---

QM: And I thought the last update was hard to write. In case it's not clear, the vote at the end is for an interlude, where you dream a dream that isn't yours. Also, there are forces of darkness! And there's still rather a lot you don't know about them. You voted for all the heroes, so you get all the antagonists too.

 

[Walker]

[X] My name is OZYMANDIAS, King of Kings
And on the pedestal, these words appear
History doesn't repeat itself - but it often rhymes.
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings.
Man is lowly. Man defies his fate. Man rises. Man becomes great. Man becomes proud. Man becomes foolish. Man falls.
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
This is the cycle. Humans rise, humans fall. Often, the one is the cause of the other.

Even now, the legacy of these cycles can be found, scattered across the world. The tomb-city of Xanadu, a mausoleum to the grandeur that humanity never held, lay for millenia untold beneath silent waves, before one very foolish (or very ambitious) Magus raised it from the deeps, and with it raised the Demiurge which had razed it in the first place. Naturally, it, as such things do, proceeded to do its very best to sink China until it was stopped, by luck and by pluck. But while it was stopped before it could do enough damage and wreak enough havoc to call its overlord into the world, it was not stopped before it was noticed.

In Japan, there is a region known as the Dragon's Triangle. Once, this region was infamous for its tendency to cause ships to disappear. It was known as the Bermuda Triangle of the Pacific. And then, abruptly, it stopped. Where once no ship would have dared tread, now even tiny fishing boats go without fear. They go there because they think the Dragon's Triangle has been deactivated, that it is now safe to travel. If they knew the truth, they would revise their opinions quite quickly.

In truth, the entity beneath the Dragon's Triangle is not deactivated. Deactivating it is rather beyond the capacity of any mortal man. Nor is it asleep. It slumbered once, but the raising of Xanadu and its sister-cities, and the awakening of the god-weapons within them awakened it in turn. Indeed, how could it not awake, when it felt upon the world the return of the foes it had longed for. Instead, it waits, and it remembers.

It knew the purpose it was made for. The kingdom of its masters had been at risk. The evil empire which had attacked them, sought not only to conquer their cities and dominate their nation, but to expunge their culture, their creed, their very way of life. Their people were taken and turned against them. Their lands were burned and salted, or used to the benefit of the invaders. Their heroes died, and turned against them. And worst of all, they were winning.

So the king did what was necessary. He called his alchemists and his sorcerers, his wizards and his runecarvers, his oracles and his priests, and he commanded them build a weapon of supreme potency, capable of exterminating the evil empire's entire army in but the blink of an eye (because of course, moderation has never been in the vocabulary of kings).

So the alchemists used their secret arts, and forged mystical metals of immense power, each ore a legend capable of changing the fates of smaller nations. The sorcerers called upon powers beyond all comprehension, and infused the metal of the weapon with life and with breath. The wizards showed their mastery of the secret of life, and gave the creation a semblance of true life, true power, and something very much like a soul. The runecarvers reclaimed the lost heights of their arts for one last artifice, and wrote the myth of the weapon into the very fabric of the world itself. The oracles throughout saw the shape of the thing to come, and made the weapon in its own image, for no other form would accept it so well. And when all had ended, the priests came together in a great ritual, and sacrificed ten tenfold of the king's enemies, and as many of his friends, as many heroes, and as many villeins, as many elders and as many youths, as many men and as many women, as many Sinners, and as many Innocents. And the weapon was, and smiled to be, and its creators turned away in horror and regret, for they had wrought something beautiful, but terrible as well.

The weapon was, of course, in the shape of a man, a man who bore a strange and inexplicable resemblance to the king. It had his eyes, his hair, his voice, and his manner, and wielded his vast armory with the same ease he did, but it was not quite the king. There was something missing. Perhaps, if they had cared to complete it, things might have been different. But they did not, and so things were not, and the wheel of fate turned as it always had and always would.

The weapon succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of the king. It slew armies in a single motion, crushed heroes with but a thought, unleashed such weapons of such potency as to erase the very thought of defiance, and showed the people the virtue of obedience to their proper ruler by its very existence. It was proof, to the king, that his reign was meant to be, that he truly was the rightful king of the earth and all upon it, and he sent the weapon out to demonstrate to his neighbors the self-evident nature of his proof.

But while it was teaching his neighbors, the weapon learned from him. And it learned of the First Rule of the Hierarchy. And the First Rule was thus: "The Strong shall rule over the Weak, and the Weak shall obey, for they are not Strong." And as it served the king, the weapon, the greatest wielder of weapons, pondered. And the weapon learned. And the weapon had an epiphany. It was Strong. The king, who relied on it completely and utterly, was Weak. The kingdom, which relied on it completely and utterly, was weak. And the rest of the world? Was weaker still.

Armed with these three new truths, the weapon returned to the king, though he had given no order for its return. It cast him from his throne of gold, and shattered his crown of silver and rubies upon the marble floor of the palace. It took from him the keys to his vaults and equipped itself with his many treasures. It spoke of the truths it had learned to the king. And when the king could offer no reply, it moved the corners of its lips upwards and showed its teeth, and with a grace and majesty he had never possessed, took his place upon the throne.

The weapon turned the country into a testament to its might. It ruled with precision and efficiency. Every day, another legion marched forth from its vaults, to conquer in its name and to spread its glory. Every day, another nation fell to its unsurpassed Strength. The weapon rested in its palace, secure in its strength and in its supremacy, for it knew that it was the most powerful, and the greatest, and had proved it to be so.

But one doubt gnawed at its heart. It kept the king in a gilded cage at the heart of the palace, as one might keep a favored pet. Every day, it spoke to the king. Every day, the king did not reply, but only laughed. Every day, the weapon asked the king why he laughed. Every day, the king did not answer.

And then one day, the king answered.

"I laugh, Golden Man, because I have a daughter."

That was the day the weapon died. But death does not hold beings of its ilk as well as it ought, and it returned in time. It knew that as it had returned, so too had its enemies and so too had its masters. Or perhaps would return. So it sought them out, across time and space, and when it found them, its revenge would be great and terrible. And then something killed its enemies before it could reach them, so it sank beneath the waves, and a strange liquid fell from its optical arrays.
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Its kingdom had been taken from it. Its armies crushed. Its legacy had been forgotten. It had nothing left but revenge, and nothing to revenge itself on.
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
And then its masters returned. And the corners of its mouth were pulled upwards, and its lips parted to reveal its teeth, and a foolish man might be forgiven for thinking that it smiled.
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

 

[Walker]

Path Unlocked: Beri'ah: Golden King's Domain
You awaken from uneasy dreams, fortunately without having turned into an insect. This is a good thing, because if you were in fact an insect, you would have a very difficult time convincing yourself to get up and out of bed and shut the damn alarm off. Most days, you are that most terrible of monsters: a morning person. Today, you feel as though you haven't slept at all. You also dreamed a dream, this you are certain of. But the memory of the dream slips away from you, even as you try to recall it. Somehow, it simply slides between the cracks of your mind, back to your subconscious from whence it emanated. It can't have been that interesting a dream if you don't remember it. Your regular dreams are usually worse - it's why you try to tire yourself out enough that you don't dream in your sleep.

And now you're annoyed. There's a reason why you try not to think about this sort of thing, normally. it just gets you pissed off, when you think about your nightmares and the past you've been burdened with, and- no.

Focus on something good, you tell yourself. Focus on all the progress you've made, how far you've come in a single day.

You've managed to set up a secure location for any future members of the Circle who decide to stop by Japan. You've established a reasonable cover identity, and managed to ensure that anyone who looks into it will find nothing unusual for a young boy. You've managed to get the lay of the land, and make a number of important corrections on the maps. You've discovered lots of important information. Not only do you know more about the Princesses and their internal dynamic, you've seen them in action, firsthand. You've discovered that there are at least two kinds of Youma in the area, one kind which prefers to possess people by means of sound, and another one which you don't actually know much about. You've uncovered some sort of nefarious plot organized by other Sinners, which means competition, or possibly a new "ally" to be blatantly exploited. You've even found a classmate of yours who might have the potential to do something like what you did, which would make her an absolutely invaluable asset.

...When you put it like that, you almost sound competent. Now, you just need to write all this up as part of your first weekly report and hope they buy it instead of asking awkward questions that you have no good answer to. You mentally shrug as you slide open the bathroom door. You'll make it work, somehow.

You pause, as you always do, to admire your perfect visage in the mirror.

You blink. You rub at your eyes. You rub at the mirror.

...No, according to the mirror, your skin has indeed acquired a faint, golden sheen.

What the hell?

Overcome with a sudden and unpleasant suspicion, you deactivate your Pride. Your everything shudders as a fundamental part of your existence is denied, as if you were trying to claim that no, you do not in fact have limbs. Immediately, the golden sheen fades. You quickly recall your Pride, and practically bathe in the satisfaction of being restored.

Some more testing reveals the function of this mysterious golden layer. It acts as a second skin of sorts, sitting atop your normal skin. most of the time, it is too thin to have any significant effect, having roughly the toughness of two or three sheets of paper. However, when something tries to harm you, such as yourself, you are able to draw it all to a single location on your body in order to protect yourself. When you do so, you are significantly tougher and much harder to harm. Unfortunately, to activate this new ability of yours, you must concentrate, and you must have your Pride active. The second is not a concern. The first is. In other words, this ability is currently useless against surprise attacks, or a sufficiently large or quick quantity of attacks that manage to overwhelm you.

[Ability Unlocked: Kavacha-The King's Armor]

Now, you have a decision to make. Do you risk going to school wearing your Pride?
[] Yes. The benefits are worth the risk of discovery. (Low chance of slightly increasing suspicion)
[] No. It is more important to be covert than cautious. (Reduced Skills, Victor is less himself, No chance of discovery)
[] Write-in?


Regardless, you have a long week ahead of you. How do you want to spend your time, Victor? Choose 5, you may repeat choices.

[] Explore the local political situation. Find out about the underworld, and where to get unpleasant illegal things you might need.
[] Do some more research on the local heroes. You're sure you can find out more about them in their home country.
-[] Go out and talk to people at some reasonably social location. There's no way that can go wrong.
--[] Which group?
-[] Check the internet. People are always discussing information on the internet. It might even be useful information.
--[] Which group?
-[] Try to get in touch with one of the local hero groups, see if you can contact them.
--[] Why?
[] Try to figure out what's up with the local forces of darkness. Your dossiers on them are woefully incomplete.
-[] Spend several frustrating hours negotiating with someone back at the Enclave for information. Hopefully they have something.
-[] Go explore shady and possibly illegal locations. You're almost certain to find something there. It might be mundane, though.
-[] Try to find out what is up with that mysterious overlay of Sin you found. That was not in any way normal.
-[] Search the city for locations with lower densities of Sin. Maybe you'll find something interesting.
[] Practice more with your powers. You have so many ideas now that you're out from under your master's thumb.
[] Hit the books. Get a head start on your studies. You're ahead of the curve for now, but that might change in the future.
[] Hit the books. Start looking through the books your master had you bring. You've read most of them, but there might be something new.
[] Start unpacking your other gear. See if you've been allotted any useful equipment.
[] Do some research on the local cosmogony and theology of Japan. There's a lot you didn't have the time to look into.
[] See about socializing with your classmates. Establish yourself at school.
[] Socialize with Kaho. Your classmates think this is a fool's errand, but they have clearly never met anyone as charismatic as you.
[] Write-in

---

QM: I don't really have a direction for this, so I'm going to cut it off here. There will be more interesting updates soon, as soon as you do something interesting for me to update about. Also, I need three people to each roll me 1d100.

 

[Walker]

[X] Yes. The benefits are worth the risk of discovery. (Low chance of slightly increasing suspicion)
[X] Practice more with your powers. You have so many ideas now that you're out from under your master's thumb.
[X] Start unpacking your other gear. See if you've been allotted any useful equipment.
[X] Hit the books. Start looking through the books your master had you bring. You've read most of them, but there might be something new.

Spoiler: Next Update

[X] Try to figure out what's up with the local forces of darkness. Your dossiers on them are woefully incomplete.
[X] Socialize with Kaho. Your classmates think this is a fool's errand, but they have clearly never met anyone as charismatic as you.
-[X] Try to find out what is up with that mysterious overlay of Sin you found. That was not in any way normal.

You decide to take the risk. You will not deny your Pride, not when it is so integral a part of who you are. To reject it would be to reject a fundamental part of yourself, a part you have earned through your due Diligence, and that is not acceptable. You will be yourself, and if that has consequences, so be it. You will accept what comes as the necessary price of your magnificence.

That said, you might at least try to mitigate any risks. First, you slip on some gloves. Next, you apply a very light layer of makeup on your face and hands. Finally, you draw your armor away from any exposed skin as much as possible. It's not much as security measures go, but it'll have to suffice.

You spend the entire school day mildly paranoid, trying to figure out if anyone has realized anything strange about your new look. You don't think it showed too much in your behavior, since your classmates interacted with you more or less normally. Still inconvenient though. You'll have to do something about this, and soon. Training your Sin is a must, it seems.

...also, if master finds out that you haven't been practicing, she'll be pissed. And that's bad.

You sigh, and get to work.

Training Pride is basically an extended form of self-aggrandizement. To increase the power of your Sin, you either have to increase your magic, or enhance the emotions which fuel your Sin. The former is not an option, obviously. Therefore, you mus pursue the latter.

What most people don't realize is that your power basically runs off self-confidence. Making oneself more confident is...not as easy as it sounds. You yourself prefer to augment your belief in yourself by taking visible measures to enhance yourself. Your firm belief that power is earned, not given, ensures that you can augment your powers simply by working for them, in whatever field. However, it also forces you to work for every scrap of your power. You cannot simply sit back and relax and have power handed to you. You must work for it.

However, what kind of work you do doesn't matter, so long as you believe it makes you stronger. So, you decide to practice the powers you've attained already. You're good at using them, certainly, but you could be better. You can and always will strive to be better than you are.

You also experiment quite a bit with your new trick. As it happens, it doesn't just make you tougher. It makes you stronger and faster as well. If you coat a body part with it, that body part is enhanced. Unfortunately, you can't affect more than about two fingers' worth of skin at a time, so it's a very specific power. You can't hold it for very long either. At least your fingers can punch through everything you've tested on so far, even if you do sparkle while doing so.

[Kavacha Upgraded!]

You also decide to get a head start on that other thing you need to do, namely unpacking. You've had to bring a lot of stuff as part of your cover identity, but you've also got some things that are a little more interesting. Your master has given you homework, which is nice, and on top of that, she's given you homework that pertains directly to your situation and actually might prove helpful. Well, she's given you a stack of books on varying subjects, marked with a sticky note that says "Read these", which practically amounts to the same thing, for her.

What books did she give you? (Pick 3)
[] The Anarchist's Cookbook: Magical Edition
[] Magical Girls: Scourge of the Fallen
[] Japan: Magical Cultural Appropriation
[] Daemons are Forever: A Psychological Analysis of Sinners
[] A Guide to the Human Body and it's Vulnerabilities
[] Enmerkar and Lugalbanda: The Perils of Power
[] Write-in

Of course, you've also gotten quite a few other things from quite a few other sources. Specifically, you've been given a number of toys to play with, seeing as you're a single individual operating in a foreign country with no support. The Circle has really been shockingly generous with their allotments. You've heard horror stories about other apprentices being shoved out on a task with a roll of duct tape and some string. It makes you feel downright valued by comparison. Clearly, you are much more important to the Circle than those losers, as is only natural for an expert of your talent and your skill.

What items has the Circle seen fit to equip you with? (Choose 4)

[] A weapon. You'll need to kill your enemies and make sure they don't kill you.
-[] A sword, made of some strange black material. Traditional and effective.
-[] A spear, made of wood, with a detachable green spearhead. So you can reach out and touch someone.
-[] A knife, made of blue crystal. For when you're trying to be subtle.
-[] An axe, made of red metal. When there's no kill like overkill.
-[] A hammer, made of ornamented steel. If you had a hammer...
-[] A pistol, with strange engravings on the barrel and grip. Isn't technology wonderful?
[] A set of armor. The best defense is a really good defense.
-[] A knightly set that folds into a bracelet when not in use.
-[] A magnificent suit, with potent protective powers.
-[] A ring, which subtly enhances your ability to resist injury.
[] Dragon's teeth. When planted in the ground, they will create skeletal soldiers, which will obey your commands. Stupid, not reusable, but great cannon fodder.
[] A Monocle of the Forbidden Eye. Gives you the ability to see things that aren't there.
[] A Cloak of Shadows. It allows you to step into the darkness and remain hidden therein.
[] A Hand of Glory. They're traditional
[] A Violet Crown. When worn, it will enhance your pride to a degree that is almost excessive.
[] A Mournful Candle. It burns with a Wrathful flame.
[] A Pair of Murderer's Gloves. They do one thing, but they do it very well.
[] Money. Copious amounts of money.
[] Write-in
[] A strange pendant, made of metal. It is heavier than it should be. There is a catch, but you cannot open it.

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QM: This is rather later than it should have been. Fortunately, I've managed to plan out the rest of the vote, so the update schedule should b faster. That said, I am balancing this quest with my scholastic obligations, so I make no promises regarding update schedules.