Titanomachy Rebirth (IC)

**Plue** · September 4th, 2022, 02:15 PM

Eilian Aubrey
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Dark Labyrinth – ??? Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

What.

Eilian blinked in surprise as the sharp points on her glove just skitter across the face of the zombie, not leaving so much as a scratch.

Her mind likewise feels like it is skittering unable to grasp what just happened. Eilian had regularly used those gloves to scribe lines across steel she had worked with. A cold sweat broke on her neck as she sees the other zombie catch the blue haired student. Fast, far too fast. She was easily able to land her ineffective hit against them, but likewise there was no way she would be able to dodge their attack if they were to lunge at her.

Moving as fast as she can away from the zombie she perhaps at best annoyed she circles towards the other two girls who are having better effect at dealing with this problem.

There should be no shame at admitting ones uselessness in a problem outside their skillset, yet it still rankles.

**RacingeR** · September 10th, 2022, 01:23 AM

Jordan J. Jones
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – 4th Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

So.

Good news. There wasn’t another slime in the classroom.

Bad news, as you heard the horrified scream the girl let out, you knew that whatever was there wasn’t good. But you had already thrown in your lot with this decision, and you had no time to change it or go anywhere else.

The inside of the classroom was an absolute mess. Bloodstains were visible on the walls, albeit at this point this was expected of the décor. No, what had made your companion scream like that was the spectacle at the center of the room, now clearly visible to you.

Decaying, rotting. This shambling being was by no means alive, and yet it moved, as if impelled by a rabid, unholy will. It had been in the process of devouring a corpse on the ground, one you did not wish to look at closely right now.

The scream had caused it to stand up, somewhat unsteadily, and turn towards you. Judging from the clothing, this creature had once been a male student of Zeus High, probably one year your junior, but you didn’t recognize him, nor could you ever have, what with his face being so badly mutilated, looking as if it had been sliced apart by extremely sharp knives.

Encountered Decayed Being (Human Schoolboy)

And… there was a hole where his heart should’ve been at.

It was quite clear that it hadn’t taken your rather rude intrusion on his meal all that well, judging by how aggressive it looked. To make matters worse, you saw that the classroom was indeed one that had two doors, the rightmost one leading further down the hallway you’d been at. But to get to that door, you’d need to go through the zombie: the classroom was mostly open field save for the bloodstained remnants of desks and chairs piled high on the sides, forming a narrower passage where the zombie was standing at.

You heard a clank behind you. Despite being terrified and looking like she was about to throw up her lunch and breakfast all together, your companion hadn’t lost her mind entirely and had closed the door behind you.

Moments later, you heard the slime crash against it, and it started attacking the door. No telling how long it would hold.

Oh, and the girl on your arms was stirring now, apparently all the noise and motion having finally starting to wake her up.

All in all, you felt like you were quite a few touchdowns behind in this one.

**RacingeR** · September 10th, 2022, 02:30 AM

Johnny Justice
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – ??? Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

Zombie Jamboree
Turn 4

“Mother…” Timothy started, with a certain irksome inflection to his voice that sounded like he was quoting the holy bible or something equally sacred, “… told me that hurting girls is bad. Dead or not, I won’t fight them.”

Like you, he went straight towards the new arrival, zombie girl hanging off him and all, fists at the ready.

But you got there first, like a whirlwind of violence, all your power and considerable fighting talent put into one punch aimed to destroy your opponent’s insides. It was a punch that would have made even top-tier heavyweight boxers envious, the sum of all the strength you had achieved until today.

Battle calculation

The body of the dead chemistry teacher twisted. It bent in half, as if doubling on itself, hit by a force so great that the bones inside the rotten husk shattered with audible sounds. Black blood poured out of his myriad wounds, some from his mouth, as his internal organs displaced.

But, it was not enough, not against someone who was already dead, not against something like this. Instinctively, as if receiving feedback through his fist, Johnny understood that this creature was far more abnormal than those he had slain before. This had stepped beyond the potential of a human body liberated from the chains of life and its limits. This was something that had already started to mutate into something more.

And you two were, despite all your superior prowess, still human.

Timothy stepped into the space opened up by the impact of your fist. His own swung into a wide arc, simple and direct, aimed at the zombie’s ribcage.

Battle calculation

It was a powerful blow, not quite as mighty as yours, but it once again sent the decaying husk tumbling backwards.

And yet, despite all the hurt you had piled onto it, he didn’t even seem all that damage. Instead, he let out a hissing scream, and stepped right back, a strange sickly purple energy emerging over hands that had practically mutated into claw-like appendages.

Said claws came down against Timmy’s chest in a blur of speed and fury.

Battle calculation

Much to your surprise, the zombie’s claws tore through the boy’s chest as if his proud body was but paper. Blood poured out copiously out of the wound, and the boy’s heavy mass was forced backwards by the monster’s incredible strength.

Timothy has been inflicted Bleeding (Level 1)

The redhead said nothing. He clenched his fists, standing as if the hit had been nothing, but that bleeding looked rather bad. The zombie girl still hanged stubbornly onto him, something almost worthy of admiration, even if she was accomplishing nothing but ruining the boy’s jacket.

This enemy was bad news. The both of you knew you were up for one hell of a slugfest now. Your companion should be able to outlast him, but it’d be quite bad if his attention turned towards you.

But… compared to the mooks from before, this was a much more fun enemy.

Speaking of zombie girls and mooks.

Battle calculation

The other zombie girl was still getting all over your business, attacking from the back. You heard her body creak with your counter just now, however. You were grinding her down steadily, although she was being a real pain in the ass.

Codex update

**Zagrin** · September 11th, 2022, 04:18 PM

Aster Hunter
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – 6th Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

"Hm?"

Aster had caught sight of the glint of steel as it whizzed by him and stuck itself into the crow that he had crippled, bringing an end to its miserable life. Considering what he had seen of the general state of the school, and the persons within, it was unexpected, to say the least. Unwelcome as well, however with the extraordinary circumstances currently in play he would refrain from allowing his contempt at such an interruption from influencing his actions. For now at least.

As for the person who came to his aid, he recognized her as she approached to claim her weapon.

Originally Posted by Camilla

“Yo, Aster, didn’t know you’d taken up birdwatching.”

"Ah, Camilla. Without Ashley by your side, I almost didn't recognize you. June too, I see as well as..."

Aster's gaze shifted to the other two students that had arrived with the gang members. One of them he recognized as the girl that was in charge of the martial arts team, and so someone who could perhaps prove to be useful in the situation they currently found themselves in. As for the other one, she was completely unrecognizable, and so someone he had no reason to pay attention to while at Zeus. Therefore it was an impressive feat that she hadn't ended up yet as one of the corpses littering the school.

Originally Posted by Martial Arts Girl

“Look, got no problem with your homie having a birdwatching hobby or what not, but we don’t have the time to tangle with birds. Remember the super zombie?”

Originally Posted by Some Girl

"I concur. These birds are nothing compared to the thing that's chasing us, so I suggest we start running unless you have a death wish."

"Hm, so there is more than one of those creatures in this school, although I would not describe the one I delayed as a 'super zombie.' Furthermore, this place is also different from how I remember it to be, the same could apply to the rest of the interior of the school..."

Aster quietly contemplated this new information before giving a response to the present course of action proposed.

"So you wish to flee, hoping beyond hope that this tireless creature would grow bored of the pursuit, whilst all the while being assailed by these crows. This is, of course, excluding the possibility that running headlong into the unknown will not result in coming upon another one of these creatures, and thus a situation that would spell almost certain doom for us."

He could only chuckle at how easily things could go from bad to worse in their current situation, or perhaps it was because of the uncharacteristic words he would soon speak.

"The five of us against one creature, there is no certainty of those odds, but if you have all survived this long we may stand a chance? That is assuming that the one that I had left behind does not come down to interfere as well, so perhaps a different battle line would still be warranted. Nonetheless, if there is no agreement, then I shall not bother further with it. Besides, I doubt it will be me that the crows will continue to take an interest in when we begin our aimless flight."

Originally Posted by System

Impact Guard Prepared

**Tangerang** · September 12th, 2022, 08:48 AM

Myo
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Courtyard – Northern Yard)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

Myo glanced downwards to see that the monstrous rats gathering around the base. Given their current state and actions, it did not seem like Myo was in any immediate threat, but their actions struck her as odd. Perhaps even unsettling. But she didn't have the luxury to tackle this mystery right now.

Instead she scoured her surroundings, planning her next destination. All around her she could hear the occasional human scream, but it had nothing to do with her. As long as she wasn't on the job, she would not kill, but it's not like she would go out of her way to save people either.

Well, in theory if it was part of her job, that would be another story. Dealing death, preserving life were simply opposite sides of the same coin. But well...

Myo shook her head. She was getting distracted, sidetracked by unrelated thoughts. How very unlike her. Perhaps she was unable to keep herself completely composed in light of the circumstances after all.

After scanning her surroundings, she manages to pinpoint the location of the ruined school. Even at this distance she could make out the main entrance... and movement elsewhere out of the corner of her eye.

A student...? To the northeast or so.

Myo debated for a few seconds, but her response was pretty clear-cut.

Her job isn't to find students. It's not killing nor saving them either. The overriding priority is of course, to take out her target who is not a student. And her partner can take care of herself, and wouldn't be wearing a student's uniform at this current time anyway. And Myo highly doubted that an ordinary student could provide any useful insight to her current situation, considering the occasional scream she still heard. Better to explore and gather info on her own.

She head out, making sure to stay above the ground as much as possible, jumping from tree to tree, running along the walls, and so forth.

**Bloble** · September 12th, 2022, 11:35 PM

Jordan J. Jones
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – 4th Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

The football player burst into the classroom as if it was the end zone. Some part of his mind promised him safety was there. A return to normalcy, or at the very least, a door he could put between himself and the weird slime thing chasing after him like an amorphous green panther.

No luck. Just wishful thinking.

As the door clicked shut behind them, the girl stirred in his arms, and the utterly mutilated corpse of a schoolboy made a noise that should've been impossible to make with your face ripped off, only one thought ran through Jordan J. Jones' mind.

"Ah shit..."

Without thinking, he set down the girl in his arms. She'd need to walk on her own and he'd need his arms free for this. But what was 'this'? Jordan's body, as usual, moved faster than his mind. By the time he realized what he was doing, there was no time to back out and pick a more sensible plan.

Walls of tables and chairs rose up on either side, making for a poor field. Dodging past the opposing lineman would be tricky even for Jordan, and impossible for the other two. There was no retreat. No way to go around the side. Above and below, naturally, were impossible. That left only a rush straight forward, past the zombie right out of The Walking Dead.

Which was why, with a loud grunt and a clanking sound, Jordan pulled something from the wall of classroom furniture and slammed it onto the floor between them. As the undead schoolboy's shamble turned into a full on groaning charge, Jordan braced his shoulders, and...

"Push!"

The groan of rubber on stone signified his counter charge. Jordan shoved a desk straight down the lane, using it as a barrier between them and the zombie. If you kept it at arm's length it wouldn't reach you, right? Plus zombies were notoriously bad at self-preservation, so its balance must be awful. And they had at least two people, so maybe they could overpower it-!

"I ain't gettin' bit and turning into a walker, so push!"

**Vritra** · September 13th, 2022, 02:16 AM

Ishmael Freeman
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – ??? Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

“I’ll help you however you can. I can cast magic through this portal, although it is one-way only, I’m afraid.”

?

No bartering, no offerings, no conflict, as if anything here was an after thought. How… lucky? Is this the power of negligible risk to oneself? Or is she perhaps a ‘good’ person…

How unpleasantly uncertain.

What will she be like if the situation changes… How quick would she abandon everything.

How…

Useless thoughts.

“Thanks.”

Flashing her two thumbs up and a (unsteady) smile I turn to examine my surroundings again.

“This darkness is not natural, something truly terrible is causing it.”

A confirmation of effect results in a confirmation of cause

Define ‘Terrible’.

A toxic substance, an intense energy instability, something that can be touched and seen, an ‘Eldretch deity from another world that I’ve been summoned by a beautiful goddess to defeat while obtaining, riches, relationships, with a power that surpasses all things.

…

What’s better a cliché tedious story line or a wannabe horror setting?

…I think I hate it here already.

“And you are still a normal human. Or maybe you’ll remain one, in that case…” She blinked, and didn’t complete the phrase. “A couple thousand… that’s… a lot more than ever before…” That was muttered to herself, you think, but you were able to hear it nonetheless.

“Heh.”

Me, normal, that’s a first. Its almost heartwarming. Why? Because that implies all his efforts failed? But what would the state of abnormality bring? Does she know how to achieve it? And this is apparently not a unique phenomenon… Who, why… The principle?

Footsteps.

ROT.

In the blink of an eye, I have already shifted, transformed, regressed. How easy that was.

Two figures step out of the darkness. Two, corpses? A female teacher (a shame?) I didn’t really know and a janitor. Corpses that walk, the dead that hold unkind thoughts (probably) FUCKING ZOMBIES REALLY??? Faint sparking of memories I tried to scrape away and anger at the farcical situation I find myself in blend and twist as my body slowly tightens waiting for a signal. Abnormalities of body, muscle, weight? What if the walking dead were also steroid junkies? Joy. Pathogen based or ‘magic’? Which answer would be worse?

Frustration and anticipation build. Bubble bubble toil and trouble.

“You should run.” The witch pointed out, almost sedately. “These two aren’t something you can deal with as you are right now.”

Mistake.

Since when did I retain the ability to run from trouble, I burnt that with abandon when I first started all of this…

Flicking a thumbs up (what would she know of gestures like these?) in acknowledgement I step back into the murky darkness and run. Spread out the weight, lower the center of gravity, speed without lose of precision of movement. Lessons carved into my bones begin to break through the surface as I retreat with all the stealth I can still manage.

Degradation would inhibit sensory function, presumable. Weakness of sight would force reliance on sound, touch, and so on. Or maybe they can now see magnetic fields and this is all pointless. Speculation and assumption is an exercise in frustration but I don’t have much else until they confirm things. Not like he briefed me on the laws of undeath? I think…

Blunt trauma is understandable but cuts…

Red head, I’m not, interested in the dead.

**Erlkonig** · September 14th, 2022, 07:27 PM

Masaki Tomomi
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Twisted Classroom – 4th Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

"Nothing..." Tomomi mumbled, staring at the sky with wobbling eyelids. "There's nothing here."

It was a horrifying realization. One moment they had been gallivanting about the school, their heads full of flighty concerns. It was only minutes before that she had been chatting with her friends before the world dropped from under them and took them to this land of broken skies.

"The Lord of the Flies..." Tomomi said with barely restrained horror. "Forget the loss of technology or leisure needs. If we don't even have a stable food or water supply, how long before we tear each other apart without strong leadership?"

Her mind immediately went to a dozen post-apocalyptic novels, full of scavengers teeming the wilds and engaging in brutal murder. She did not think of the monsters around the school, but trembled instead at the all too human horrors that bubbled inside her head.

She looked at Stacy, accusatory. "You... Do you-"

But she cut herself off before she could say something damning, rolling her tongue around her cheek instead. Whatever her distrust of the gang, and the dreadful knowledge that there was nothing separating the muscular gangsters flanking Zhong from doing whatever they wanted with her besides the woman's word herself, they had saved her life and offered their help.

Survival was their first priority. Distrust could come later.

"..." Tomomi closed her eyes, dousing her mind with cold water. She couldn't deny that the situation was extremely unnerving, but what could she do? She was just a girl. Her biggest priority right now should be to squeeze into whatever shelter she could find and ensure that her friends did the same.

When she opened her eyes, they were icy. "I understand." She said, fists clenched.

"I'm ready."

**RacingeR** · September 21st, 2022, 02:11 AM

Xavier Augustus
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Twisted Classroom – 3rd Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

The ghost doesn’t answer at first. She… or they, seem to be focused on something, frowning even more intensely now. Then, the bigger ghost shakes her head, as if giving up.

“Can’t tell. Can only sense something bad in this floor.”
“Something evil is interfering with our senses. There’s…”
“There’s something truly terrible in this school. Something capable of turning this place into hell on earth.”
“Something truly fun! Hee hee hee!”

The small ghost laughs creepily, and involuntarily, you feel an awful chill. Thankfully she only laughs a bit, because something about it… you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you can tell that hearing that laughter is not good for your sanity.

“If that Big One is immediately nearby, I should be able to tell. Your best option would be to go now. I don’t know the structure of this place, not after it got warped… But I think… should find some stairs if we keep going east from here.”

The big ghost sounds a lot more rational, at least. The small Infis is grinning like a maniac, but the bigger Infis seems thoughtful, almost worried.

… Amnesiac or not, you think this ghost has noticed something else that she’s not willing to share at the moment.

**RacingeR** · September 24th, 2022, 01:58 AM

Aaron Arturio & Willow Durand
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Detached Building – 2nd Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

“What- but…” One of the boys objects to the course of events, but Bryanna pushed them ahead.

“Go!” The reporter muttered, grabbing Marie with one hand and practically hauling the smaller girl with her. In other circumstances, she would have probably chosen to take her stand and fight along with the others, but given the noticeable invincibility of the ghost, getting Marie away seemed to have become her priority over anything else.

The group started moving away, leaving Aaron and Willow behind. They didn’t dare to start running, but they started walking away as fast and silently as they could while the boy, to their eyes, sacrificed himself to let them run away.

The irony of the situation was, that when Aaron stepped up, rosary in hand, focusing on it fully to keep the monster away, something strange happened. Something that had never happened before.

It was as if the object inside his hand was… resonating with him, somehow. The purity of his faith, of the boy’s true belief, fed into it. A pale glower started to cover the cross, almost unnoticeable, and yet still there.

“What are you doing?! This is not fun!” The ghost girl’s face, the half that remained, distorted in a hideous grimace upon seeing the boy and his rosary. Her single eye became a slit, narrowing, before suddenly widening as a rage utterly far away from anything resembling sanity coursed through her. “Stop it! I SAID! STOP IT!”

The next moment, Aaron saw the ghost recede away from him. No. It was him the one that was receding away from the ghost.

The experience was much as if someone had tugged on his jacket. If that tugging was magnified about a thousand times. The jacket he was wearing was moved away from the ghost at an extreme speed, and the boy, unfortunately, was forced to come with the jacket.

And unfortunately for everyone else, the hallway you were at wasn’t particularly wide. Willow was the first to get hit by the boy projectile, getting hooked by one of his flailing arms, and then dragged along with him as he crashed into everyone else.

In a way, you got lucky. This seemed to have been more of a reflex action by the ghost rather than an aimed attack. Had Aaron crashed directly against someone else, the result would have been very nasty for both parties involved. As it shook it out, the impact ended up distributed between everyone. Enough to bruise and throw the whole party to the floor, but not much else, thankfully.

Everyone has lost 5 HP

On the upside, you all had ended up at a great distance away from the ghost. Aaron had rolled all the way to the other side of the party, landing in a pose that’d have been rather funny in any other circumstances, meters away from a door that led elsewhere. The others weren’t far away from him.

On the downside… the ghost seemed to be really angry. And Aaron’s jacket still felt odd… as if it was wriggling and moving on its own.

Codex update

**palad1n** · September 24th, 2022, 02:07 AM

Kaguya
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – 6th Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

Originally Posted by Aster

"Hm, so there is more than one of those creatures in this school, although I would not describe the one I delayed as a 'super zombie.' Furthermore, this place is also different from how I remember it to be, the same could apply to the rest of the interior of the school..."

'Ah, so there's more than one of those things. Fantastic.'

That... changes things somewhat, and Kaguya bit her lip as the man continues to speak.

Originally Posted by Aster

"So you wish to flee, hoping beyond hope that this tireless creature would grow bored of the pursuit, whilst all the while being assailed by these crows. This is, of course, excluding the possibility that running headlong into the unknown will not result in coming upon another one of these creatures, and thus a situation that would spell almost certain doom for us."

She really doesn't like the fact that he has a point, but she considers it all the same. They were indeed running without a destination in mind thus far like headless chickens, and seeing firsthand of what the super-zombie could do had set off all kinds of fear and alarm bells for her to consider anything other than running.

But as he said, zombies don't get tired, and running away with no plan or destination in mind while being chased by not only said super-zombie, but also the mutated crows, would be bad.

But now they have five people, four of whom knows their way in a fight, and even she's not completely helpless either if push come to shove. She completely abandoned the idea of fighting when it was just her and Hiyori, but now... maybe it could work? Finish off the crows, then it becomes a 5-on-1 as long as the other super-zombie doesn't come, and as long as they don't get grabbed or hit...

Kaguya took a deep breath, scarcely believing that someone from Zhong's gang managed to convince her to fight for her life instead of running, but she'd be lying if his words didn't ignite a fire within her that she thought had long been extinguished.

"Hiyori... I hate to say it, but he actually has a point. Good points, even." Kaguya said while keeping eye contact with Hiyori. "We have to deal with that super-zombie sooner or later, and running without a plan or knowing where we're going will only delay things. With five people, we might actually stand a chance as long as we're careful not to get hit or grabbed."

Hopefully she was able to convince her. She really doesn't like the thought of staying with Zhong's gang if Hiyori still choose to run off.

Kaguya flipped her hair, if only to calm her nerves for what is to come, before taking a vaguely defensive position.

"And you better perform admirably after convincing a fragile girl like me to stay, young man. I have high hopes for you."

[Prepared Counter]

Spoiler:

**RacingeR** · September 24th, 2022, 03:09 AM

Olivia Reeds
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Courtyard – East Side)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

Jack didn’t react very evidently to your rather on-your-face approach to handshakes, though you noticed a slight blush on his face as you moved back. A bit more innocent than he looked and sounded like, then.

Albeit, he preened and showed off once he noticed that you were admiring his physique. This was a man proud of his muscles and willing to show off. The type to flirt a lot but that didn’t commit, you thought, although it was too early to tell.

“Hm, yeah, to be honest, didn’t fancy my chances with the slime.” The boy shrugged lightly. “Can’t quite punch out a wall of acid. I think. Well, I bet Gwen would’ve pulled it off…” He mumbled the last part to himself, then shook his head.

“I’ve gotten word from some friends that the school lobby and the dorms are safe.” Jack said, all business. You think that if it weren’t for the background noise of hell and the rather unsettling situation, the guy would definitely be hitting on you, but right now he had his hands full with survival.

“But the lobby’s entrance’s at the south, and I don’t know about you but I don’t like the look of the Great Bush Wall over there.” He added, pointing at the creepy bushes. “Dunno how long it goes, too. I guess we could either try to get inside the school again and get to the lobby through there, or wrap around from the north to get to the dorms.”

“Either way, yeah, getting some equipment first sounds good.” He grinned confidently, taking your hand in a casual gesture. “You keep an eye out behind us, I know exactly where to go for weapons.”

He guided you towards the sport facilities ahead, creeping up cautiously despite his confident demeanor. Both of you kept looking at your surroundings, making sure you weren’t hearing anything suspicious as you proceeded.

The darkness was disconcerting, somehow being worse on the outdoors than inside when you had to move. Without the outline of the buildings both ahead and behind you, you could have easily lost any sense of orientation. Add to that the constant paranoia, the feeling that some monstrosity could spring out from the darkness at any moment, and it wasn’t a very pleasant walk.

It was, however, a rather brief one. The facilities turned out to be a lot closer than you had thought. This strange dark filter over everything really did a number on your perception of distances.

Jack stopped upon seeing the building in front of him, then shook his head. He guided you along at an even pace, going by the side of the structure, and then past it, guiding you along a short hallway, and then around yet another structure.

Then, a short walk, and… was this a baseball field? So that was what he had in mind…

“The bats should be over here.” Jack let go of your hand and walked up to a shed while whispering. He frowned, however, when he noticed bloodstains on the door. He opened it ever so slightly, and peeked inside from the gap.

“Shit.” He muttered. Curious, you went over to him and peeked as well.

The shed was not empty. There was a person inside. A boy, clad in the baseball team’s uniform, caked in blood and gore, leaning against the wall. One of his hands still held a baseball bat. And although you couldn’t see him very well, you were sure…

Encountered Decayed Being (Human Schoolboy)

That nobody alive should be looking like a decomposing corpse.

**Frantic Author** · September 29th, 2022, 01:06 AM

Johnny Justice
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – ??? Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

"Think your ma wants ya to die, Tim?!" Johnny roared, taking a step back as he clicked his tongue, bouncing on the tips of his feet as he shook off the dizzyness. He was bleeding a bit, and he slammed a fist against his chest as he turned to look at the other boy with dangerous eyes, "If you wanna play around with your own life, fine by me! But if you're fighting to die, you ain't fighting to live! Go at your pace--"

[Grapple: Zombie Schoolgirl A]

The boy held out his arm like a bar before his feet spun and he locked one of the schoolgirls inside of his hand, clenching the girl's arm in a vicegrip as he took a deep breath before hurling the girl over his shoulder, right into the teacher's torso-!!

"--But don't interrupt mine!"

He stood still coolly as he watched the girl fly through the air, watching with a scrutinizing eye as the body careened into the direction of the teacher with eyes of fire. Even if he was 'human', it never really mattered. Regardless of the time, regardless of the place, regardless even of the setting, one thing remained true. One thing showed clear in his stance, hands in his pockets as he watched the scene before him, a lazy smirk on his face as he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. And one thing was a fact that could never be forgotten.

Even when you took the tiger out of the jungle, it remained a predator. A thing that inspired fear and awe in all that viewed it. Johnny let out a labored sigh, running a hand over his face to wipe away the sweat and feeling the heat of his own breath dash across his palm as he stared at his former teacher through his fingers. His blood was running hot. Adrenaline was pumping. Part of him couldn't help but shake, but he knew he was getting more interested by the second.

"Haha... Guess that crazy bet was worth something after all, eh Cy?" the King smiled, cracking his neck as he stared at the surroundings. A fear of death -- that was an ordinary emotion to have. But Johnny wasn't an ordinary person, was he? He'd never been. From the moment he was born to the moment he would die, Johnny Justice was hungry for something. Something that he didn't know the name of, and something he couldn't see. "This place... It ain't half bad. Bet you're having fun already."

Johnny's teachers and classmates had become something akin to monsters. And what of the King of the Jungle, what was it's natural response upon seeing a creature that had the audacity - the sheer arrogance - to enter it's territory?

It devoured them.

**RacingeR** · October 10th, 2022, 01:46 AM

Rika Griffin, Sakura Sumeragi & Eilian Aubrey
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Dark Labyrinth – ??? Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

Mad Labyrinth, Part 1
Turn 2

The deadly dance continued, as the participants clumsily flitted about the battlefield, decaying husks and mostly untrained schoolgirls scrambling about for their lives. Or unlives, as it were.

Eilian stepped backwards to avoid being jumped by the limping zombie, just in time to let the space be taken by a writhing mass consisting mostly of undead and Sakura, driven straight towards the other enemy with Rika’s assistance. It wasn’t a particularly elegant solution, and the most the silver-haired girl accomplished was to drive the ram towards its objective, rather than adding her strength to the charge, but it was enough to accomplish something.

The combined mass of three students slammed on the already weakened zombie, hammering him away and into a nearby wall. The sound of bone snapping could be heard throughout the darkness, and both Eilian and Rika were able to witness how the monster’s spine broke in half upon impact. He twitched for a brief moment, spasming on the floor, and then stopped moving, as if a switch had been turned off.

Decayed Being (Human Schoolboy) has been slain

Which only left the one threat still standing, sort of. Both Sakura and him had taken the brunt of the impact, but Sakura had been sturdy enough to shrug it off, while the zombie had the right side of his body roughed up, looking like he was halfway back to the grave, much like his fellow had been.

And yet, he had enough strength to keep fighting a bit more. He did not feel pain, fear or exhaustion. He would continue fighting until the very end. That was the kind of creature he was.

Now with both arms wrapped around Sakura, it seemed to become as if possessed. You could hear the muscle fiber practically tearing as a sudden surge of strength pushed his body into overdrive. He wrapped Sakura into a ribcage crushing bear hug, at the same time he drove his head down and sunk his teeth in the softer space between her neck and her shoulder.

Battle calculation

Sakura’s bones creaked; her insides compressed by the strength the zombie exerted. A bit more, and her internal organs would be undoubtedly affected, and yet she held. The true damage came from the bite, that tore through her shirt and sunk into her flesh with savage strength. Perhaps it was the first time in her life the girl had been bitten like that, and yet even this was unable to do all that much damage, only to draw some blood out of her, even if it hurt like hell.

And that was it. The zombie’s strength was spent, and his body was still being held by Rika. All that was left was to give him a finishing blow…

Scrapping.

A sound like metal scrapping against a wall, or perhaps the floor.

Loud. Louder than it had been before.

And it came not from the distant north, where you had heard that scream, but from behind. From the room you had woke up and abandoned perhaps mere minutes ago.

Codex update

**Mormarth** · October 15th, 2022, 09:54 PM

Alexandra Gray
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Courtyard – Tree Garden)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

For the first time in recent memory, my heart quavered, in the depths of my brain, my amygdala twitched and the inklings of an emotion I only rarely allowed myself to influence my outward appearance shook the bars of its cage.

I was trapped, hemmed in like an animal, like a bull to slaughter, it did not matter how far I ran, or how hard I fought, I would falter, I was already waring down, my limbs coarsed with a dull, throbbing ache, my hands twitched unconsciously, even as I brushed a remnant of bone off a finger.

And now, I had run out of options, my ace in the hole worked for a single option, but my gamble had faltered. Perhaps I was too dangerous for the swinging plantlife to ignore so easily, perhaps I was merely a larger, easier target.

Perhaps, perhaps.

But I've reached the end. My left ribs are a shattered wreck, my internals shield turned to so much razors in my internals, biological knowledge tells me that I need to see medical attention immediately, that this at minimum will leave me bedridden for weeks, if not months.

That I shouldn't be moving, that I should relax, move into a recovery position, and wait for assistance.

Ridiculous.

Absolute insanity.

It's a line of thought I will not allow myself to accept.

I have no one to help me, and I will not add to the burdens of anyone else by making a millstone of myself.

Even that girl, Rumiko, Shinoko- I couldn't see her very well-, if I called to her, it would only serve as a distraction, the most important part is to get out of the grove.

She can do it.

I, well, it doesn't appear I'll be able to.

But I can't simply lay down on the earth and wait for a savior, either.

I grimaced at my hands, the numbness was, I hoped, temporary and not indicative of long-term nerve damage, somewhat hysterical to think of now, but...

Hmph.

I burrowed the fingers of my right hand around my left wrist, brows furrowing, eyes widening, I could feel the running of blood and saliva and who-knows-what-else down my chin as my lips spread, teeth barred.

Because for all the pain, the stiffness, the exhaustion clawing at my limbs-

I felt more alive than ever before.

And I blink, tilting my head.

The world slows to a crawl.

It is as if every individual motion of any being around me has spiraled, layers upon layers upon layers, each having its own impossibly small space, all individual working pieces, all each their own discrete piece of the greater image.

I feel my eyes whirl madly, struggling to note each twitch of a hair follicle, the synapse burst from dendrite to axon to body each individual secretion of hormones to neurotransmitter to electrical impulse to muscle to tendon to bone to motion that is directed by natural instinct of the id and ego bereft of any and all higher cognitive function other than to kill or be killed and consume and brush past the innate wrongness of the creatures as they exist solely to kill, not to eat drink shelter fuck live die no only kill kill kill kill kill

I blink.

More blood runs down my lips, and as an idle reflex, my tongue darts out, copper iron hemoglobin oxygen touches my tongue, and olfactory smell-scent-taste-bitter-life-knowledge reverberates through my cognition once more.

Ah.

Of course.

It only makes sense.

If the existence of Alexandra Gray is to be a learner, an observer, why should she be so base as to solely focus on the exterior, motions of skin, flesh, muscle, tendon, bone. I needed to go deeper, to understand the 'reason'.

And these, these things, glorified objects, really, like white blood cells, they seemed complicated, but they were even less than animals.

My hand-mind-soul brushes across these winged 'things', these not-birds, and gazes upon the waste.

The uselessness of it all, the flimsy construction, the faulty methods, and so, terribly, fragile.

It was pathetically easy to grasp them, I needed only-

Reach out.

[Tabula Rasa Activates!]
[-25 SP]
[Flying Trait Acquired!]

I feel my skin and muscles distorting, the bizarre desiccation I feel in the depths of my bones, for a moment, my arm twitches and undulates, half-formed feathers war for space with leathery membranes for space, my subconscious wars with itself, the most natural occurance for 'human with arm' would be to shape and move the bone structure already there.

Spiders run across my muscles as fibers stretch, twist and distort on themselves, to my hazy vision, my arms look like melted plastic, splitting into malformed, indistinct pictures of what something should look like. They were an artist attempting to make a picture that they could not conceive of.

I feel almost irritated, but I settle into a sense of queer calm, of course such a thing would happen, one can't be a Human and a Bird at the same time.

You have to simply change the equation, instead of dwelling on the expressionary part, focus on the result, this ability is naturally unnatural.

It's something Alexandra Gray would not have developed in a vacuum, but it stems from her regardless. Trying to mess about with an exact replica of what someone else does is futile, you just have to make it work for you. Focus on the principles, the details come later.

In essence, don't think of it as 'how does Alexandra Gray attain flight'. But if I was the same as I am today, how would wings come into it.

Of course, I can't give up usage of my arms, they're too valuable, fingers, palm, knuckles, elbow, I can't simply toss those aside because that's where wings should go.

So naturally, they must go somewhere else, I cannot discount or adjust what is already there, so I shall have to add something new.

Something in my core tells me that wings in and of themselves aren't required, but I discard it. Even if it would be impractical, I still have to pertain to my own reason.

Time still at a crawl, I detachedly note the stretching and restructuring of my forearms, the lengthening of the humerus, the rejoining of the numerous air pockets within the bones to the single canal.

For a moment, I am as myself, feeling nauseous and uncomfortable as an immense, overpowering feeling of dysphoria attacks my brain.

Then, I quickly ball that feeling up, clenching my jaw, and eject it out from my back.

I'm no stranger to physical accidents, fractures and such, and this feeling was, I supposed, what one must feel during a compound fracture, the bone tearing through the surface of the skin.

However, it is curiously painless, my body as clay to my rapidly shifting internal image, I feel the trapezius and Latissimus Dorsi spiraling together to take note of and adjust for the newfound limbs growing out of my back, I feel the gentle touch of air on forming blood vessels and nerve endings, the growth of newfound follicles growing and prickling in the air.

It is a curious feeling, if it was not innately now 'part of me', I suppose it would feel alien, bizarre, wrong, even nightmarish. But instead I feel only a mild annoyance, intellectually feeling discomfort as new muscle memory floods into my nervous system, along with the brief phantom glimpses of memories-that-weren't, my cognition stretching around the growing wings and encompassing them as smoothly as anything else.

A new set of differing memories settle alongside what is 'normal', those of a winged Alexandra.

I remember being grumpily settled on a stool as my mother fussed with my plumage, I recall the soothing sensation of a leather glove along my wingspan as I cling to my father after a nightmare. Having to use an extended handle on a brush to properly apply product without external aid.

Feathers, they note, are a real pain in the ass.

Probably, it would be much more convenient to have more chiropteran-styled wings, leathery, more natural to the mammalian form, could even use far distant ancestors in the genetic tree.

But that's lame.

That's for lame people.

Because it's my body, and I get to decide what does and doesn't make sense.

Now then, I mused, prodding at a likely-bit of muscle memory and nodding decisively as a great 'whoomph' of air was displaced by the idle effort of unfurling the great wings.

Aside from the tearing of fabric, once again, that itself was a mild annoyance, I made a mental reminder to adjust my clothes in the future so as to make room for large, broad wings.

There's more here that I think my subconscious influenced so as to 'pretend' to make sense, but I'm not going to bother thinking about it too hard for now.

Also, at some point, my ribs appeared to have knit themselves together and are now merely pained, strained and maybe cracked in a few places, rather than the broken glass collage that it had become.

Thanks to these trees.

I frowned lightly as a phantom tendril of information scuttled across my mind, tentative tendrils of cellulose making my feet tingle slightly before I silenced them.

I needed mobility, and while my wingspan (hah) was impressive, it wasn't Whomping Willow impressive, so for now, that avenue was a waste of effort.

However, the insights of their state of being garnered some positive feedback, things I could use to my advantage.

And also revealed them as being even more annoying than I thought they were.

Still, it was a simple enough thing to coagulate together, they're quick to react and move about, but only within a certain radius, and even then, their immobile core hamstrings them if you're capable of reading it correctly.

The truck, the base of the body, from it comes all strength, even in these base, 'wrong' things, every action has an opposition.

So even if they're strong and startlingly quick for their size, their advantage has a blind spot, the point of origin is always the same.

Likely the reason for the vines, but even they have to stay close to the ground, or at least that's what I supposed.

But even so.

[Language of Violence activates!]
[[Rooted] Range boost to AGI lessened!]

Foreign memories are taken in, sorted, filtered, and settled, it was a simple enough maneuver to use, no better than a child wading forward, flailing arms in all directions, informing you that if you got hit, it was your own fault.

About as easy to crush, as well.

The difference being, in this case, that I'm the one using it.

Freedom lies beyond, and it is a road paved in blood.

I know not what created you to behave in this way, so wholely unnatural, scarcely more than frothing masses of violence, but I can't allow you to exist.

So, that I may grow stronger, I have one request.

[-3 DEF applied to targeted Mutated Crow (We'll call him Crow D for Dead)
[-3 AGI applied to Mutated Crows E and F (The others attacking Rumiko that I have not yet Ultrakilled™)

Die.

[Death Flight Activated]
-------------
HP: 44/70
SP: 55/80

The Alexandriad

**Eru Erufu** · October 16th, 2022, 10:00 PM

Aaron Arturio
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Detached Building – 2nd Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

Aaron has scarcely a minute to react as he's catapulted backwards, impacting the wall with a dull thud and a cry of pain. Shedding his still-wriggling jacket in a hurry, he stands back up, legs wobbly and heart still filled with fear. But something else is there now. The light from his rosary, the holy light, the light of... of...

The Lord.

"Everyone!" Aaron calls out, holding the rosary up once more. "Pray to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He is with us this day, and if our faith is true His protection will lead us to safety!" Aaron has no idea what Willow is doing, but he gives her an appreciative nod. "No, let us make our way for the exit!"

Aaron stares directly at the poltergeist even as he sidesteps towards the rest of the group and, hopefully, the exit! "You will not win today, Demon! For the Lord is with us. Now, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, begone!"

**SnowSpartan** · October 21st, 2022, 10:50 PM

Willow Durand
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Detached Building – 2nd Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

It’s working! The rosary is working!

For a moment, immense relief floods Willow’s anxious heart. No longer are they helpless or defenseless. Now they have a weapon in Aaron’s rosary. Being able to do something, anything, against this monster is the first good thing that’s happened since she woke up in this horrifying situation.

With the rosary, Aaron may even be able to chase the ghost away!

Unfortunately, Willow’s reverie is cut all too short as the boy in question is sent crashing into her. In such a tight corridor, she didn’t stand a chance of avoiding him.

“!!!”

For the next few seconds, her world consists of a rapid blur of the nightmarish school as she’s knocked around from the impact. Knocked around and dragged after Aaron. All Willow has the presence of mind to register is alarm before the two slam into the other students who were on their way out.

Pain is the next thing Willow registers as she’s sent sprawled on the floor following the second impact.

“Owww.”

Though Willow’s body stopped being flung around like a ragdoll, her mind continues to spin. In an attempt to gain a bearing on her surroundings, Willow lifts her head and dazedly looks around. Beyond the mess of people in her general vicinity, she can faintly make out the dark corridors of the hallway and an angry, floating girl with half a face looking farther away than before.

Much farther away than before.

Originally Posted by Aaron Arturio

"No, let us make our way for the exit!"

The boy’s words shake Willow out of her confusion. Willow swiftly scrambles to her feet before nodding back to Aaron.

“Yes, let’s go!”

Willow hurriedly starts pushing Aaron and the others to the exit. Earlier she was ready to stay behind, to give the others the opportunity to run away. That hasn’t changed, but the situation has. Now they are farther away, maybe even far enough to lose the malicious-looking ghost girl. And if not, at least this’ll get them away from the cramped corridor.

**Alliceron** · October 25th, 2022, 08:53 PM

Xavier Augustus
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Twisted Classroom – 3rd Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

“There’s something truly terrible in this school. Something capable of turning this place into hell on earth.”

“Things are already bad enough as it is. Anything worse just seems excessive. What sort of thing are we dealing with?” Xavier sighed. If he made it to the lobby, he’d need to tell someone about this. They’d need as much information as they could get if they wanted to survive this place.

He consciously blocked out the odd laughter from the smaller ghost girl. Just hearing it made his head hurt. Was everything in this place designed to be hostile to humans? At the very least, it seemed like this Warped World was a place that humans were never supposed to enter.

“If that Big One is immediately nearby, I should be able to tell. Your best option would be to go now. I don’t know the structure of this place, not after it got warped… But I think… should find some stairs if we keep going east from here”

“Alright then. Let’s not waste any more time.” He stretched. “Tell me immediately if that Big One gets close. We’ll have to be ready to run or... float away if things go poorly.”

Just before he opened the door, he looked back at the larger Infis. He didn’t know whether it was due to her tone of voice or her expression, but it felt like she was hiding something. He disregarded it. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter to Xavier. He was about to enter a deadly environment that had already claimed the lives of many of his fellow students. There was no room for hesitation. It was time to leave this room.

I will survive this.

With that, he slowly opened the door and scanned the hallway while preparing to bolt at the slightest sign of something amiss.

**RacingeR** · November 6th, 2022, 02:34 AM

Neru Sune
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – ??? Floor)
Time: Day 1 – Afternoon

Later on (if there was a later for you) you would recall understanding very little of what went on during the ensuing dustup. Albeit the lamps illuminated the room rather well, darkness still abounded, and the shadows the light projected helped to heighten the reigning confusion.

You were positioned well enough to see your improvised team’s sorry state. Maybe some members could’ve made it out to the exits, but because nobody had communicated in their blind panic, most of them had ended up tripping into each other and basically stopping themselves from running. John, the younger boy in the room, was being a special kind of pain in the ass with his panicked flailing.

Rosalin had been trying to shout orders to get others to calm down, to no avail, but she heard you, and nodded brusquely. “Liz, Boris, distract the big guy! Nico, Emir, everyone else, help Neru and me with the other three!”

You tossed the corpse you had collected, despite your revulsion. You weren’t trained for action. Your visual acuity was barely keeping up with what was happening, and everything was a blur of confusion and chaos. It was perhaps more luck than anything else that made your toss not a useless endeavor: the body landed a bit too far away and to the side of your target, but its arm entangled itself on the foot of one of the male zombies, causing him to stumble and fall face-first into the ground.

Others did their move. Rosalin grabbed a school bag on the floor and then slid it across towards the female zombie. She was a lot more precise, and the object hit her target right on the ankle, causing her to stumble and lose her equilibrium, although she did not fall. Your leader of sorts then broke out from the group and approached the zombies herself, stick in hand.

Nico jumped away from the on-going mass of confusion, landed in front of the last zombie, and jabbed his stick into his knee. Somehow, his strike landed true, and in fact, so true that it pierced right through the rotten flesh and destroyed the bone beneath, laming the monster.

Lizbeth and Boris had also moved around the confusion in the center, now a bit less of a mess with only five people stumbling in there, and immediately engaged the Ghoul, before it could advance and start a massacre. Just looking at its size was enough to tell that it was much stronger than anyone else in here. Was it truly the carcass of a human? Had it mutated somehow in undeath? Questions that boggled the mind. What was the gray mist that clung to its putrid form?

Both of your schoolmates hit the monster with crushing, powerful strikes, and the creature stumbled back, clearly not immune to what they dished out, although you weren’t close enough to assess the damage. However, for some reason, both the boxer and the martial artist let out pained and consternated screams afterwards, and stepped back, clutching their fists.

The monster did not give them time to retreat. With one powerful swing, its fist crossed the air like lightning and cracked against the side of Boris’ skull, with enough strength you heard the sound all the way from your position. Blood poured from the Russian boy’s temple, and you could’ve sworn something weird was happening in the place where he’d been hit, but once again you were too far and your vision was too poor and busy keeping track of so many moving agents to assess the damage.

“Finish off these three, now!” Rosalin shouted impatiently, sending a worried stare to the ones fighting the Ghoul as she tried to galvanize the rest of the squad into action, as they had failed to accomplish much of anything. Evidently, she had come to the conclusion that if they wanted to run away from the Ghoul or deal with it somehow, they had to kill off these threats first, or otherwise the situation would be too dangerous and out of control. With the strength these zombies possessed, the kind of damage they could do to a normal human…

Well, you were seeing a lot of awful examples strewn here in this room.

**Sei** · November 28th, 2022, 07:33 PM

Sakura Sumeragi
Location: Sea of UNKNOWN – Warped Zeus (Distorted Hallways – ??? Floor)
Time: Day 1 - Afternoon
HP: 151 | SP: - | Self: 130

The thing bit me!

I mean, I don't know what else I was expecting when I jumped headfirst into a ravenous bunch of obviously zombies-! But still... it fucking bit me!

I'm dead. I'm definitely dead... Even if I somehow make it out of this in one piece, I'm doomed to become the walking undead.

Fear. Anxiety. Panic. Disbelief. And so much adrenaline that the life-ending pain doesn't even register properly.

A hundred different thoughts running through my head. Only a single moment to express it all.

All I can do is scream.

Thread: Titanomachy Rebirth (IC)

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