[PP-F1] The Rising -Aereth, Hidden and Myself-

[Domarus 0]

Domarus stopped and turned to Aereth when he mentioned that he was joking, his visor glowing steadily, cruelly, almost evil like.
    "Don't test me Aereth."  Domarus turned again, moving forward as Aereth mentioned how he wanted his sword back.  He knew what was going to happen.  He knew what was waiting for them.  He was ready for it.  He wondered how Hidden and Aereth would react, though Aereth may have figured it out by now.  They entered into a room with a single man standing at the other end.  He stood calmly, upright with excellent posture.  He had the pride of a king, and the grace of elven prince.  He had no weapon on him, or at least it didn't seem like there was.  He had a calm, gentle and almost welcoming smile on his face.  His hands were behind his back, but if one had a good eye, they would notice that his muscles weren't tightened, neither were his arms sagging, indicating that he had no weapon behind his back that he was holding.
     "Welcome, Aereth.  Hidden.  Domarus.  It is a pleasure to meet you all.  I've been eagerly awaiting you all.  I am unarmed and quite willing to die.  My real life's dream, my work, has been accomplished after all.  Of course the other factions know of you and will decide where they should go from here, but they won't have to worry for too long.  I've created the greatest combat force of all time.  Please, come in.  I can't wait for you to meet them."

@Hidden

[Hidden 1]

After the backhand, Aereth seemed pretty cocky still, showing that he had not learned much from his expedition so far, but showed some sense and maturity afterwards by thanking them and telling her that he would never forget what she did for him. Showing a small smile from underneath her still masked face, she darted forward, thrusting her four fingers into his ribs. "The name isn't girlie! Its Hidden if you will!" She turned following Domarus into the room. She made a quick analytical move around the room, finding no presences bu the one at the end of the room, who invited them in in a rather calm tone, but was promising an assembly of great fighters. She clashed her teeth her teeth together, the two sets grinding in anger. 'How does he know my name?' She thrust her dagger forward, a bright orange light would incur, enveloping her entire body. When the light faded, she was no longer in view. Crouching in the shadows of the room, she began to creep up to the enemy player. 

'I have to be able to analyze the situation. If these truly are the strongest they have in their organization, how can we hope to contest?' 

[Aereth 1]

Aereth felt the fingers of the hooded woman slowly digging into his ribs when he finally answered. "Ok, ok. Would you now mind to remove those fingers from my..." he shortly looked down to where her hand was. "...or I might get turned on by it. You're the first woman touching me in weeks, Hidden..." he said in a smooth voice and was even surprised himself about how easily he had said this.

After the group of three finally reached a room with only one man standing in it. Aereth immediately recognized him. He was the brain behind the whole group. And he had come to visit and interrogate him a couple of times. And he was the man who had taken his phase weapon with him. "Oi, sh*thead. Stop talking so much crap. If you want to die so badly, give back my sword so can shove it up your a**hole in order to help you with your death wish." That's what Aereth would have wanted to say, but a quick glance over to Domarus remembered him to better keep his mouth shut. He would just need to wait for some instructions. 

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

Domarus glared evenly and calmly at the man standing on the opposite direction of them.  The man's words had caused Hidden to activate her hiding skill, making her vanish from view.  Domarus didn't bother looking for her.  The enemy was doing it for her.  The man had sighed and looked at Hidden square in the face as she approached.
     "Please dear Hidden, could you be civil for once?  I'm trying to hold conversation in our last moments together.  I don't want you to die prematurely after all."  He turned his attention back to Aereth and smiled calmly.
     "Well I can certainly see you were a success as well.  Death floods your eyes and veins.  What surprises me is that your friend Domarus' presence can keep you in check.  It was an oddity I didn't account for but that was fault on my part.  No matter.  While I can pretty much tell what you are saying, if you feel the need to speak then please share."
     "Aereth won't speak until I give him permission.  Hidden, there's no use in hiding from these men.  This is their terrain and they know it well.  They have the advantage in this area.  I also recommend looking behind."  The man smiled as he heard this.  When Hidden looked behind she'd see another, yet smaller individual.  There was a chain bound to the player's left ankle and they were curled up to the wall.  It was a child.  The child simply whimpered and cried.  If Hidden looked around she would see many children.  Eleven children at the least, all of them being both boys and girls.  All of them chained.  All of them afraid.  Or so it seemed.  The instant one of them was touched, or whenever Aereth cried a warning, the child closest to Hidden would reveal their face, an evil gleam in their eye as well as a cruel smile.  Before Hidden could react the child had knocked her weapon from her grasp and pinned her to the ground in a lock that kept her from moving, wielding her own weapon against her neck.  The other children sprung into action as well, two of them popping up behind Aereth and kicking him behind the knees, forcing him down.  Two of the older children rushed over and held him down in kneeling position.  The others moved to subdue Domarus but one punch from him, knocking the boy across the room, was enough for them to simply surround him.  Players would notice by now that only a small amount of the children had green cursors, while the rest had orange.  The man smiled.
     "Hidden, Aereth, Domarus.  Meet my greatest creation."

@Hidden

[Hidden 1]

As she prepared for a strike, the man looked straight at her, through her hiding skill and asked if they could be civil for once before their deaths. He stood up, deactivating the hide skill. "How did h-" Domarus began to speak, dignified and calm. He claimed that they knew the area so so well, the changes from the Hide Skill were easily noticeable. He also mentioned for her to turn around. 'Look at what now?" She thought as she turned. In the corner, a child lay whimpering and chained, obviously afraid. She backed away from it. 'What was a mere child doing here?' A shout from Aereth was heard, and her attention flicked away for a smal second. Fottsteps pounded towards her, the child barely giving her anytime to react. She pushed off the ground, planting a kick to the child's head, causing him to stagger back. By the time she landed, another chained child had taken the other's place, smacking her dagger out of her hand. It now skidded across the floor and the child she had kicked attacked then, pinning her to the ground, allowing the other to fetch her knife and give it to the other to hold on her neck. "G-Get off of me!" she shouted, trying to struggle away. These were full blown players though, with the strength of players. She could't throw them off like normal children. "Hidden, Aereth, Domarus.  Meet my greatest creation." Hidden turned her head slowly to face the man. "These aren't your creations! These are children, twisted sickly to your nature" She would have thrown a threat, but she was in no position to. 

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

He was right. Aereth saw much in his time with the crazy guild. No wonder he was radiating an aura of destruction, chaos and death. But again. He wouldn't even loose a word regarding the praise/insult. As long as he would be able to dig his fists into his body, everything was fine.

"Stay away from them." Aereth tried to warn the hooded girl, just before they sprung into action, disarming and pinning her to the ground. "Well... Too late..." was all he could think about before they also started to take him down. Two hits to the back of his knees later and the brunette was held in place by two pretty strong individuals. Aereth wasn't even resisting he just kept his gaze on Domarus, waiting for a sign. 

Thanks to his material arts skill he would immediately be able to spring into action as soon as Domarus would tell him to do so. Even though he knew the redhead had a plan, the details were still hidden from him. That was one thing that bothered him about the dude. Even though he was plotting all the time, he kept most of the plan to himself, only sharing the necessary parts with his underlings. "For f*cks sake, shut the hell up." Aereth thought as he heard Hidden growl some words at the leader.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

The man turned to Hidden looking genuinely offended at her words while the children held her down.  He walked over to her and kneeled down so that they were at eye level and smacked her hard on the face.  It was enough to deal a measly one point of damage which meant there was a lot of force in the action.  He looked at her as if he were scolding a child.
     "Shame on you for insulting my work.  In a world where death is at every corner, and with no one to look after them these children should do what they can in order to survive.  Two I had rescued from a near death experience, and were rather easy to convince.  The rest were tormented by their peers inside the safe zone.  I have helped them dear Hidden.  I have saved their lives.  I may die in the process, but they shall live on.  They will grow stronger in the shadows, climbing levels like never seen before.  So tell me:  How have I twisted them?"  While he was saying this, Domarus could practically hear Aereth's silent plea for an order.  But Domarus did not yet give any.  Not just yet.  He had planned this very carefully ever since the beginning.  If Hidden looked into the children's eyes she would see bloodlust, violence, indifference towards her, or desire.  She would see that they were beyond any and all hope.  And he calculated that she'd be able to kill them if necessary.  Domarus gave her a bit of time to do so before he made his move.
     "Hidden.  Final words of Cerberus."  The words were meant to confuse the opponents, but Hidden would know what he meant.  The dagger he gave her before they departed once the quest on floor nine was completed.  The dagger with two uses remaining.  The one he told her to hold onto until she needed it.  She would now know how far, how thoroughly he had planned this all out.  She would know that when others believed they were in control, they were really just strings in the hands of Domarus.  He was the one in control of everything.  He was the one who decided what happened.  And she would know, that she was also on a set of strings.  While Hidden had this realization, and while the man turned to Domarus in confusion, Domarus released a powerful sword art and slashed four of the five children around him, knocking them all back.  The fifth tried to land a hit but he grabbed the child's face and activated charge, slamming the youngling into the wall with such brutal force that there was a new indent in the tiny cavern.  Chaos erupted as the rest of the children went on the full offense.

@Hidden

[Hidden 1]

As she lie there, pinned down by the children, the man's voice seeming tormenting. She wished he would shut up. He asked her how he was evil if he was saving the children. "You call this saving? I called it luring children, capturing, and then tormenting to become killing machines. After we escape, these children will have to endure years of therapy to try to save some small part of their mind!" She tried struggling again, but the children held her legs and upper body down, without martial arts, her arms were useless but unheld. The children' eyes were glassed, with nothing in them but pain and hatred. She herself wanted to kill them to put them out of their misery and torment. Then,  voice reached her ears. Final words of Cerebus. A dagger popped into her vision. She turned her head towards Domarus, him staring at her with patience but as if she should understand something. 'How had he known I was going to need it here? He had given it to me just before we came here! Have I just been playing into his hands like a puppet? Has this entire time just been him playing god?' She  began to move her left hand, much to the children distaste. They hit her with blows, and raked at her back. They pulled back, any farther would have snapped her real life spine and this much would have brought her to scream. He quickly moved her hand, equipping the weapon, 'Reigns of Hell' A red and orange glassy blade appeared in her hand. One of the children meant to grasp her neck, but instead they threw off her hood. 

Long dark hair escaped from its confines, her violet eyes becoming noticable by the players. Her skin was pale, and he face held a position that made it look fiercer than a fighting lion. "My... hood" She breathed out. The children stopped momentarily. They had instincts alone which was enough to sense her seething rage. "MY HOOD!" She blasted upward with adrenaline, kicking one child and darting forward to stab the one that held her dagger. "This is the taste of the Reign's of Hell... remember it well" As the boy instantly crystalized, probably from lack of level himself, she retrieved her dagger. She made no move to replace her hood. Upon her attack, the children seemed to go full outrage. Their numbers outnumbered them, even if their skills themselves were weaker. Individually, they would easily have this. 

Moving away from her attackers, she quickly blew back the children off Aereth with a single thrust each that sent them sprawling onto the floor a few tens of feet away. "Get up, punch the kids without hesitation. Their minds are so twisted, that there is absolutely nothing we could do to help them" Her violet eyes darted to an oncoming child, that she darted forward, a blast of orange light illuminating the area when her dagger met the child's flesh. It hit the wall with a thud. 

@Aereth