[Event] Profane Dragon's Hallows' Eve (Akeya Kuusai)

Event Details:

Akeya didn't often visit the city which went by the name Ace of Spades, despite it possibly being one of the biggest and most prosperous of cities in Fiore. It was located close to the heart of the nation, with a railroad connecting the western and the eastern halves running right through the city, not to mention the road that led to the famous city of Rose Garden.

Perhaps the reason that the dragoness had little interest in the city was that it was under the protection of Sabertooth, one of the most long-lasting of legal guilds. While she had no qualms with any of the legal guilds (in fact, she went out of her way to avoid getting into trouble with the law) their presence meant that there were rarely any situations in the Ace of Spades that would require her presence to resolve, and also made remaining under the radar difficult.

The reason she was here this time was purely by chance: the yearly Halloween celebration had broken out throughout Fiore, and Akeya had metaphorically thrown a dart at a map to decide which city she'd visit this time. She'd hoped that Leila would be back in time for the festivities, but the edenchild was still wandering the whole world. She'd just have to find some way to entertain herself. At least All Hallows' Eve was one of the more interesting celebrations: as long as she put her mind to it there should be plenty of things for her to do.

Of course, an important part of the seasonal event was to put on a costume, preferably one with a sinister or creepy theme to it. Over the years people had become more and more willing to ignore the latter part and just dress up as anything which suited their fancy, which Akeya found fairly predictable but would ignore in favour of creating an outfit for herself that at least somewhat suited the occasion. She didn't feel like dressing up as anything undead, however, and if she went too monstrous it might clue people into her true nature. In the end she settled for something, well... perhaps a bit self-indulgent: a revealing dark dress, some make-up, and special effects courtesy of applied light magic, and she could pass for a witch or a necromancer. It would probably attract some stares since she was showing a lot of skin, but it was thematically suitable.

With her costume complete she arrived in the city and wandered through the streets, looking at all the decorations that filled the gardens and covered the buildings. pumpkin lanterns, black paper bats, paper-mache monsters. The people of Fiore did love their celebrations a lot and tended to go all out with them. Some of the decorations were even more marvelous than that, relying on magical assistance to stand out amidst their more mundane companions. There were also a lot more children running around than was usual for this time of day, going from door to door to ask for candy in exchange for innocent treats of minor pranks if refused.

As she suspected, Akeya did receive some stares, but as there were many others who wore costumes just as revealing or just impossible to ignore it wasn't as bad as she might have expected. She wasn't the only person who indulged themselves when the occasion presented itself, after all, even if there were still some practical limits.

However, she wasn't just here to take a walk. She wanted to see what kind of festivities the city's governing body had set out for the people to partake in. With the popularity of festivals in Fiore there were always events for everyone to enjoy, regardless of position or wealth.

Seeing a costume contest in the distance she frowned lightly before dismissing it internally. She was fine with catching some eyes with her appearance, but she didn't want to make herself the centre of attention. Besides, while she didn't think her costume was bad she was sure there would be participants who spent months in preparation: she would lose to those simply because of a difference in investment.

What was more to her liking was the pumpkin carving contest. She rarely used a dagger or a knife these days, due to having suitable substitutes on hand at all times, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to use one. Entering the area set aside for the competition she walked up to the organizer. "Do you still have space for more competitors?" She had arrived fairly late, it seemed: almost all the tables were already occupied.

The organizer, a man wearing a traditional vampire costume, looked her over before nodding and giving her a fanged smile. "Certainly miss. Just follow me." Turning around he swiftly led her to one of the few tables that didn't already have a contestant, with a sizeable pumpkin placed squarely in the middle and a big knife next to it. "You'll have thirty minutes for your carving, after which we'll judge each pumpkin before declaring the winner. We'll be starting soon, so I hope you already have an idea of what you want to make!"

"I believe I do, thank you." The organizer nodded and quickly returned to his original spot, putting the finishing touches on everything before the contest would begin. Some of the people around her were looking very excited, others had a more focused look on their faces. A couple of them looked a bit more disinterested, or maybe just bored as they were waiting for the signal to start.

Akeya didn't exactly have a concrete image in her mind yet of what she wanted to carve, but she didn't think that would be a huge issue: design was an important part of the competition, but so was the level of skill and detail the carving would contain, where she was pretty sure she would have an advantage. Superhuman physical ability combined with a strict training regime would make it very difficult even for dedicated pumpkin artists to match her prowess with a knife.

"All right everyone, are you ready? All the contestants are in place, and we'll be starting innnnnn..." The organizer looked at his watch. "Five... four... three.. two... ONE... GO!"

With everyone around her grabbing their knives and getting to work with varying levels of passion and enthusiasm Akeya followed suit. What to carve, what to carve... a thought struck her, and it seemed like a good one so she got to work. Her knife moved with swift and secure strokes, drawing lines in the pumpkin's smooth surface and whipping out small pieces that were no longer connected to the mass. Leaning forward with a focused frown Akeya ignored the other contestants for the moment, absorbed in the act of putting her thoughts on the pumpkin's surface like a writer would use paper, her knife the quill. She could have used her own abilities to speed up the process and spice up the end result, but aside from that going against the spirit of the competition it would also make the entire thing rather dull.

Still, even when only relying on her skill with a knife and the image in her head it took her only twenty minutes out of thirty to complete her work: an elaborate and stylistic rose, complete with a few leafs and a woven ring of thorns. It looked like the kind of thing one might see painted on the shield of a knight. Admiring her own work Akeya spent several minutes wondering if there was anything she could do to improve on it with the remaining time before deciding that it would have to do: there was such a thing as excess, and if she filled out the entire surface with adornments it would actually detract from the central piece.

Instead, she'd sit down and see how the other contestants were faring. Some of them were already done, just like her; others were putting on the finishing touches. A few were still in the midst of their work, showing a little bit of haste as the contest drew to a close. She spotted two individuals who seemed like they were in trouble, either due to a lack of inspiration or an inability to materialize whatever impressive ideas they held inside their heads.

Just like that, the time ran out, with the organizer first declaring the final five minutes, then the last minute, then the remaining ten seconds. Everyone had to put their knife down if they hadn't already and wait for the organizer, together with four others, to pass by every table and voice their thoughts on the products of each contestant's efforts.

Akeya's table was pretty far in the back, so she got to wait for some time as well and listen to the various observations the judges voiced. As this was a contest which also included younger participants they refrained from being too critical. Still, she got a pretty good idea of which designs they preferred despite them being enthusiastic about each and every one.

When they finally got to her table Akeya stood up and silently took a step back so they had the space to admire her work. One of the judges seemed more interested in admiring Akeya herself, but a subtle tap on the shoulder from one of his companions got him to focus on the task at hand.

"An interesting design, to say the least."

"Admirable craftsmanship. I can't find a single flaw!"

"Elaborate, too. Not something you'd expect someone to knock out within half an hour."

As the judges voiced a few more positive remarks Akeya stood there with one hand resting on her hip, noting their reactions and comparing them to what they'd been saying about the other pumpkins so far. They weren't as outwardly energetic as they were with the child contestants, but if she subtracted the apparently different treatment between the various age groups it seemed like she was getting some of the best reactions. Whether it would be sufficient for them to declare her the winner was another question entirely: most of their praise was for execution rather than design, and she might still lose towards someone whose imagination was more bountiful than her own.

"Excuse me miss, it seems I forgot to ask for your name before." The organizer addressed her directly. Akeya shifted her gaze from the other judges towards him. "My name is Akemi." The organizer nodded and wrote this down before the judges moved on to the next pumpkin, leaving Akeya to retrieve her chair and sit down again as she waited for the judging to come to an end.

It didn't take long before the judges reconvened at the front of the assigned contest area, discussing which of all the pumpkins could be considered the best of the bunch. Fortunately, that didn't take very long either: within a minute or so the organizer was already stepping forward to announce the results. "Thank you all for your patience and participation! We have seen many wonderful pieces of art, but there can only be one winner! And that winner is... Illod Siblis!"

With a snap from the organizer's fingers, a light formed around one table in particular even as the pumpkin floated into the air so that everyone could see it clearly. Akeya raised her eyebrow as she saw the winner's design: the entire surface of the pumpkin was covered in curving and flowing lines, making it look similar to a mural painting of an ocean. With her sharp eyes Akeya could also see just how detailed Illod's work was. Clearly, he was an individual with a strong artistic sense who also had a good grasp of proportions and perspective. The pumpkin was also slowly rotating in the air as the light that had covered the table retreated inside to shine out from within, making that orange sea glow. It was, by all counts, quite the sight.

"While there can be only one winner I wish to repeat that each competitor did a wonderful job! Because of that, all of you can take your pumpkin home with you, free of charge!" Given how big each pumpkin was that was quite the generous reward for half an hour of playing with a knife. "Show it off to your friends and family, or make a tasty meal out of it! Otherwise, you can also put them on the big table at the entrance where they will be up for display for the rest of the evening before being put to use feeding the homeless. Thank you for coming, and have a nice Halloween!"

With the formal conclusion of the contest the contestants began to depart, some of them lingering to talk with each other while others seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. The children were more eager to take the pumpkins with them, while most of the adults placed them on the large table before moving on. A couple of them also left their pumpkins on their own table, leading to Akeya rolling her eyes and making a small motion with one hand. Together with her own pumpkin she grabbed all the remaining ones by their shadows and lifted them up, delivering them to the big table before leaving the contest behind as well.

She might not have won, but it hadn't been a bad way to spend her time. That said, the evening was still young, and maybe she could find another event to keep herself occupied for a while longer...

Current Appearance:

WC: 2,266
PWC: 2,266/2,000 (Completed)

x1 Kernel Obtained
Total Kernels: 1

Rolling Dice.

The member 'Akeya' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

As it turned out, there weren't a lot of other events available for Akeya to join. The costume contest was now in full swing, so even if she had changed her mind about joining she'd already lost her opportunity. From the looks of it her original estimation that she wouldn't stand a chance was also spot on: even from a distance she could tell that some of the participants had some truly remarkable costumes, both those who relied on magic and those who poured traditional craftsmanship into their work. She had declined to use magic during the pumpkin contest because she'd felt like it would give her an unreasonable advantage over the other participants and make things less interesting, but it was different for the costume contest: one of the largest advantages of magic was that you could achieve something with less energy and time than without magic, but if you had months to prepare something that advantage was significantly reduced. Especially since you could also try to get the help of those who could use magic if you had that much preparation time.

Another option was the haunted house, but after standing in front of it for several minutes the disguised dragoness shook her head and moved on. She'd already been forced to face her own fears several times throughout her life, and while she wasn't always equally successful she didn't think any simple haunted house was going to do anything to her. Maybe if she had a companion who was likely to give her interesting reactions, but since she was here alone...

She came to a halt once more as she saw that one of the streets had been given special attention. A sign outside explained that this street had been designated as a safe location for children to go trick or treating, although supposedly adults were free to try their hand at it as well if they thought it would net them any candy. It was interesting that they'd gone through the effort of preparing an entire street, but she had no interest in candy. If there was anything she simply lacked, it was a sweet tooth. That, and she firmly believed that it would be ridiculous for a dragon to go around begging for candy. And she'd get in trouble if she demanded it.

Continuing her walk through the city Akeya frowned in thought. While All Hallows' Eve was an interesting season event, it might be a bit too much oriented towards children for her. She had no interest in either behaving or being treated as a child. The pumpkin carving contest had been fine since that worked for both children and adults. In hindsight maybe she should just have gone through the costume contest with its age brackets... but it would have been difficult to combine that with the pumpkin carving competition.

Walking past a fortune stall which advertised itself as being free for all, her attention was instead grabbed by a new scent which entered her nose. Someone was providing food somewhere. And she hadn't eaten yet this evening. Following the scent she arrived at a place where someone had erected a stand with a huge bowl of punch and an army of small cups for people to drink some. it wasn't exactly what one would call an event, but now that she had been reminded that her stomach was empty she wasn't going to say no to something tasty which wasn't just sweets.

Since all the cups were identical she just grabbed the nearest, and using the ladle that rested inside the bowl she filled the cup with the blood-red punch. She just ignored the fake eyeballs that were supposed to give it a scary look. A quick sniff told her that there was no alcohol inside the punch, probably because that would make it too easy for some innocent child to get drunk. No magic or questionable chemicals to be detected either...

Taking a sip from the drink she couldn't help but let out a small approving sound. A bit too sweet, but quite good nonetheless. Whoever was responsible for this punch knew what they were doing. Lingering near the stand she took measured sips as she surveyed the other people in the area. Clearly the punch was quite popular, as both children and adults were constantly arriving to get a cup of their own. Most likely that bowl would have to be refilled several times throughout the evening.

The cup was almost empty when Akeya's eyes turned sharp. Well, sharper than usual. There was a huge swelling of magic nearby. Tossing her head back she swallowed what was left of the tasty substance before tossing the cup aside. She could already tell that this magic wasn't just meant to entertain the younglings.

Before she could jump into action, however, another mass of magic surged up out of seemingly nowhere, heading for the first one. For a split moment Akeya figured it was Sabertooth's mages preparing to deal with the issue, before the second magic presence engulfed her as well, creating a portal beneath her feet which she dropped straight into. The speed and precision surprised her more than she cared to admit, but by the time she acted to escape the portal had already closed above her.

Still, she wasn't left completely flatfooted. Catching herself with both feet and one hand she landed in a crouch, glaring at her surroundings. The sky was a ghostly green, and while she was close to the centre of a wide expanse she could see that it was entirely surrounded by a circular wall and... some kind of tribune? A tribune filled with skeletons whose eyes glowed with a cold blue light. The tribune and wall were made of black wood, which contrasted sharply with the bone-white sand that filled the expanse. She was in some kind of arena, apparently.

And she wasn't alone. That same magic presence, the first one, was also there, standing opposite of her. Had she been forcefully conscripted to deal with this nuisance? Akeya would have expected Sabertooth to take care of such a thing themselves, but either they were more underhanded than she'd thought or it wasn't them who was responsible for it. The governing body of the city, maybe? If they knew of her presence here they might consider it more convenient to have her take care of this intruder while keeping Sabertooth available in case more trouble arrives or she fails to deal with this nuisance. Either way, she was severely displeased.

Current Appearance:

WC: 1,095
PWC: 3,361/2,000 (Completed)

x1 Kernel Obtained
Total Kernels: 2

The member 'Akeya' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Akeya's forced opponent was a group rather than an individual. An assortment of individuals who were wearing identical outfits and who, from the smell of it, weren't alive. Was she facing off against a horde of zombies? The disguised dragoness frowned as she straightened up. Zombies shouldn't have this much strength...

The explanation to her confusion arrived quickly. Amidst the rest of the zombies stood a single specimen who was taller than the rest, and where the others all had outfits which were a mixture of black and blue this individual's outfit was bright red with purple linings, while also being a lot more elaborate. Combined with her magic presence it was clear this zombie was the leader.

"What's this all about, huh? We came here to perform and there's only one spectator!" The leader zombie complained in a loud, high voice, looking around just like Akeya had. Her grey complexion brightened up a bit when she spotted the skeletons manning the tribunes overlooking the arena. "Never mind, I guess we're good. All right guys! Let's give them a show!"

Moving as one the zombies coordinated, then charged Akeya. She in turn took a ready stance. No time to take in the situation then. Studying the way her opponents were moving it became clear that their movements were not optimized for closing the gap. They were swerving, running in a way that seemed to be more about showing off than anything else...

...Were these zombies dancing?

The leader had closed the distance and reached out to try and grab Akeya by the wrist. The assassin stepped backward to evade. The other zombies took the opportunity to surround her. Retreating further back Akeya motioned for their shadows to reach up and grab their ankles. To her great surprise they managed to evade this, all of them smoothly sliding to the side while barely interrupting their advance. The leader acted again, this time sliding over the ground to try and sweep Akeya's legs out from underneath her body.

The speed at which these zombies moved was insane: Akeya was no slouch herself, but she barely had an edge over them as she jumped high into the sky while considering her options. Zombies didn't have weak spots, as they were animated corpses whose biological functions didn't matter, so she couldn't just slice their necks and be done with it. Cutting off their heads probably wouldn't work either: with low-grade undead the head was the anchor through which the energies powering them flowed through their body, but higher-grade undead didn't need their heads attached to their bodies for that connection to persist.

She wasn't being given much time to think either. Some of the zombies were acting as setups for others to jump into the air. With four of them flying towards her from the cardinal directions the assassin had to think fast. Slamming her hands together she released a burst of dark, enveloping herself and expanding outwards. The airborne zombies, having no way to change course, were hit by the attack and launched off into the distance.

No time to feel satisfied. Reaching out with one hand Akeya shoot out a black thread towards a spot closer to the edge of the arena. The thread embedded itself into the sand, and when she forced it to shrink she was reeled in, quickly hitting the ground from a safe distance from the zombie horde. The horde, however, immediately gave chase.

Given their speed and strength, she couldn't let herself get pulled into a close-quarters fight. She didn't doubt that she could win if she went all out, but she didn't want to have to resort to that, both because it might reveal her true identity and in case more trouble was waiting once the zombies were done for.

Calling forth more dark she wrapped it around her hands, forming her iconic claws. It didn't really fit her current outfit but she wasn't one to be picky about that. Extending one claw in front she formed a multitude of feather-shaped projectiles which then shot towards the approaching horde. They tried to evade just like how they'd evaded their own shadows, but the speed and quantity of projectiles resulted in some limbs being punctured. Unfortunately, as stated before, zombies didn't really care about that.

Keeping the zombies busy with a continuous barrage Akeya inhaled deeply, gathering more energy in her lungs. While they weren't getting injured from the attack they still felt compelled to dodge, most likely because if they sustained too many wounds their body parts might start falling off, which would actually be a problem for them. She just needed to keep them busy for long enough...

Pulling her claw back the barrage ceased, but in the same move, she swung her other claw forward and released a wave of dark, obscuring their vision. The zombie horde didn't waste any time resuming their advance, charging fearlessly into the aphotic screen that awaited them. And the breath attack concealed behind it.

The Dark Dragon's Roar covered a wide range with black flames that eroded everything they encountered. There was no heat or chemical reaction: the dark simply consumed everything in its path. This also resulted in a large amount of sand disappearing as Akeya's magic gouged out the ground. Once her attack ended the formerly flat ground now had a pretty deep cone-shaped hole in it. There was no sight of the zombies, and their magic presence was gone as well.

It was only reflexes, trained for years on end, that got Akeya to put up her guard when the leader burst out of the ground in front of her, throwing up a huge cloud of sand together with all the other zombies who were close behind. While they clearly had suffered part of the breath attack they had managed to smoothly dive underground to escape the worst of it, leaving them with little more than the front of their clothes having been erased along with a thick layer of skin and flesh which they didn't need anyway. A macabre sight, but Akeya didn't have time to be bothered by that.

The leader's punch smashed against the two claws Akeya had crossed to block the attack, and the disguised dragoness let out a hiss as she felt the blow nearly knock her arms off. She would have been sent flying, but two of the zombies had managed to grab her ankles from underground. Keeping her from moving as she was quickly surrounded and jumped upon from all sides. She'd hoped to avoid a close fight, but it looked like that was a lost cause.

If she had to fight anyway she wasn't going to be cautious about it.

Ignoring her stinging arms and shoulders she released another wave of dark to knock all the zombies back. The leader managed to brave the blast and struck again, this time landing a kick against Akeya's side that almost launched her straight out of the grip of the zombies holding onto her ankles. An even worse pain was now filling Akeya's body, but she wasn't having it. She grabbed the offending leg and pulled it in while lashing out with her other claw, intending to rip the leader apart. The leader blocked the strike with both hands, but the force behind it still knocked them back with only Akeya's claw preventing their flight. As they fell more hands shot out from the ground to catch them and push them back up. The leader used the opportunity to try and kick Akeya's head off with her other leg.

Ducking low enough that her torso was almost touching the ground Akeya dodged that kick, then grabbed it with her other claw. With the leader's legs both in her grasp she gritted her teeth and straightened up even as she launched the leader straight up with a great heave. For all her power the leader's magic power seemed to be purely in enhancing their physical ability and allowing them to keep functioning at peak performance despite already having sustained heavy damage, so until they came back down they were effectively out of the fight.

The hands that had been holding Akeya's legs seemed to be fine with just holding her in place before, but now that the leader was sent flying they tightened their grip. Sharp nails dug into her flesh while pressure was exerted that could crush even a dragon's bones. The other zombies were also closing in once more.

The other zombies were also strong and fast, but they weren't as strong and fast as the leader. Ducking low once more to avoid the hands that had sought to latch onto her Akeya struck down into the ground with her claws. Clouds of sand were thrown up once more as she ripped through the zombies that were holding onto her legs, malevolent claws severing body parts. While they could function to some extent with their heads disconnected from their bodies, complete dismemberment still rendered them helpless. With the pressure on her ankles released Akeya seized hold of all the dark under the sand and called it forth.

The entire horde of zombies froze as large claws erupted from the ground all over, latching onto their bodies. Their attempts to dodge were anticipated this time: Akeya's golden eyes glowed as she foresaw their movements and compensated for them. With all the zombies unable to move the only one left was the leader.

As the strongest of the zombies was already falling down she had tried to direct herself so she'd land right on top of Akeya. Which meant that her shadow was joined with the dragoness. The moment the leader was about to hit her Akeya's form turned pitch black and parted around the strike, leaving the leader smashing into the ground at high speed. She caught herself in time to notice Akeya reappearing right behind her. She was not, however, fast enough to prevent what happened next.

The claw around Akeya's left arm turned into a stygian blade as she spun in place, the blade extending to slice through the entire horde in one go. The first spin severed their feet (and the leader's hands, for she had caught herself with them), and the second sliced right through their knees. Where the blade had passed its shadow had lingered, leaving a circular shadow underneath Akeya and all the zombies. After the second spin, a pillar of dark magic shot up from that circle, eroding and erasing the zombies just like the dragon's breath had attempted to do. The underground zombies were not spared this fate either, as they had been forcefully ejected when Akeya had called upon the dark under the surface to seize all her foes.

Once the dark pillar faded Akeya was the only one left standing, and with no enemies left to fight she slowly straightened up before clutching her side and letting out a sharp hiss. The stinging in her arms and shoulders wasn't so bad, but the kick to the side had almost made her vomit and most likely caused a lot of tissue damage. The bones in her ankles had also been cracked and blood was sliding down her pale skin and onto her shoes and the sand.

These zombies, lacking any special tricks, had been monstrously powerful physically speaking. The amount of damage they could have done if left unattended... any single one of them could easily rip right through a building, and there had been at least two dozen of them, not counting the leader who'd been in a league of her own. Sabertooth probably could have managed, but it was probably better that they'd been pulled into this arena where there couldn't be any civilian casualties.

That did beg some questions, however: to trap both the zombies and Akeya so swiftly and effectively could not have been prepared in the spur of the moment. Did that mean that whoever was responsible had known this would happen? And if so, were they responsible for this attack, and had it been aimed at Akeya, or had they just hoped she'd be able to deal with an undead horde which they knew was coming but which they couldn't stop? In short, was it sheer coincidence that Akeya had been here to take care of things, or was she the target?

She didn't know, but she was going to find out. Falling backward into her own shadow Akeya disappeared from the arena realm. She wasn't going to return to Ace of Spades under these circumstances. First she would heal up, and then she'd get busy figuring out the circumstances behind this turn of events.

Current Appearance:

WC: 2,120
PWC: 5,481/2,000 (Completed)

x1 Kernel Obtained
Total Kernels: 3