You briefly activate Dominus once again, forcing your opponent backwards with the surge of power. As they fly backwards from the sudden jolt of energy, they spread their wings out, stopping themselves in the middle of the air. The sword wielding spirit seems to regard you with a new intensity. "You are powerful, I shall grant you that. But I will yield to no man except my master!" The sword wielding wraith flies down towards you, their sword poised to pierce through your chest and puncture a lung.

Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't have had a hope of dodging this attack, but now, though a temporary activation of Dominus, you have more than enough speed and agility to do so. Stepping to the side of the thrust, you bring your sword upwards to lop off both of the wraith's hands. The golden sword clatters to the ground a moment afterwards as the ghost that was holding it dissipates entirely.

"You know, you sure talk a big game, sword." You stare at the sword lying on the ground. "Why don't you answer a few of my questions? I might be forced to destroy you otherwise." You know that merely damaging the spirit holding the sword definitely won't be enough to actually kill it. This is likely some attempt at getting you to let your guard down, but it's not going to work. You aren't about to let a fancy tool defeat you in a battle of intellect.

The golden sword on the floor begins to rattle uncontrollably at your taunts "I answer to no man, but my master!" The spirit behind the blade once again forms, this time with more deformed features to the wraith. You can make out a feminine shape to the silhouette now, and the basic shape of a face has appeared on it's head. "Prepare to die!" The angelic being takes up an odd stance as it raises the sword high in the air.

"Go ahead, spirit, take your best shot. Allow me to show you the difference between the two of us." Whatever it is that your enemy is about to do, you have complete faith in your own ability to defend against it. This enemy is really beneath you at this point, you can already tell. At your urging, the spirit brings it's sword down in an arc, an overhead slash from across the room. The only difference being that this slash seems to have projected some sword of blade of magical energy, speeding across the room with the intent to bisect you.

For the last time, you activate Dominus for a few moments to dodge the otherwise dangerous attack and approach the spirit while it is still in the recovering from it's attack. "W-what?!" Your immediate response to the spirit's question is to thrust your sword upwards to decapitate your ghostly adversary, its physical form dissipating once again as you do.

"I can tell that you haven't had much practice fighting with... well, yourself." You look down at the sword as it clatters to the floor once more. If you want to put an end to this enemy, now would probably be your best opportunity.

>Use the Power of Destruction to cut the golden sword in two.
>Take the handle of the golden sword, demand it recognize you as its master.
>Activate Dominus once again and bring your foot down on the blade to snap it.
>Threaten to destroy the sword with the Power of Destruction unless it tells you what it knows.
>Write-in...

>>4353268
>Take the handle of the golden sword, demand it recognize you as its master.

>>4353268
>>Take the handle of the golden sword, demand it recognize you as its master.
I already know what we should name it.
AUO

>>4353268
Wait! For a moment I forgot my own goal! We're supposed to be mastering the Nanto Suicho-ken and learning to cut things apart with only our hands and the Power of Destruction!
Changing from >>4353285 to
>Use the Power of Destruction to cut the golden sword in two.

>>4353294
I mean, we don't have to personally use it. It can float around by itself and stab things while we punch them.

>>4353268
>>Threaten to destroy the sword with the Power of Destruction unless it tells you what it knows.
Take me to your leader

>>4353268
>Take the handle of the golden sword, demand it recognize you as its master.

Why can't we see the name of this sword with our magic book, What? Does it not have one?

>>4353315
It hasn't fully revealed itself.
It's a spirit possessing the sword, and the spirit hasn't revealed it's true form.
Just an outline.

>>4353268
>Take the handle of the golden sword, demand it recognize you as its master.
Don't you know who we are?!

>>4353268
>Take the handle of the golden sword, demand it recognize you as its master.

You stand triumphant over the golden blade, and before it can reform the ghostly figure to attack you once more, you take hold of the handle of the blade. "I suggest that you recognize me as your new master now, sword. You have been bested in combat utterly, and you can either serve me, or face destruction. It's your choice." You give the sword an ultimatum. "Besides, would it really be so bad? How long has your master left you here on guard in this castle alone? Years? Decades? Centuries? You could find new purpose in life if you were to abandon your previous masters orders."

"No!" The sword struggles in your grip for a moment, yet with a brief activation of Dominus, you plunge the supernaturally sharp sword into the flagstone floor of the throne room. "Stop! I must remain loyal to my master!" The sword tries to heave itself out of the floor, but can't muster the strength it needs to do so.

"Why? When was the last time your master came to see you? Are you even sure they are still alive?" Honestly, unless their master was some sort of immortal, or just forgot this sword in the castle very recently, it's quite obvious as to what has happened.

"They... they wouldn't die! I know that! They were stronger than anybody!" The sword persists in it's twisted reasoning. If you want to get this sword to serve you, then you will need to take something of a different approach. You wouldn't mind a weapon able to fight for itself like this sword, it's utility is further increased by it being able to magically control other weapons to act as a sort of phantom army. While that particular ability was useless on you, you imagine that if the quality of the weaponry in this room was higher and it was instead a magical armory, then you would not have been able to take that magical ability nearly so casually.

"If you won't accept me as your master and forget your last master, then why not accept me as your second master? Are you not curious as to see where they went, what happened to your master that they would leave you here protecting an empty castle?" You might as well try to change tact. It's pretty obvious that this sword is quite devoted to its original master and that getting it to betray them is quite impossible.

The sword remains silent for a moment. "It would be... false of me to say that I am not worried about what might've happened to her. It has been so long since I last saw her... I was just left here one day, to protect this place. She... promised she would return." Ah. So the sword's master was a woman? Interesting.

"Well then, you might be breaking your master's last order, but would they truly despise you for seeking them out?" You head back towards the sword and place a hand on it. The sword seems to flinch slightly as you touch it again.

"I... I suppose not..." There's a long pause in the conversation. "Fine, I will allow you to wield me until such a time that we discover my master. B-but don't get any ideas! I'll let you wield me, but you aren't my master!" The voice emanating from the sword takes a distinctly female tone as it denies officially recognizing you as it's master. Annoying, but it will do.

"Good enough, I suppose." You activate Dominus once again and pull the sword loose of the stone floor. "I actually have a few questions I still want answered, if you are willing to answer the questions of one who is technically not your master." You smirk at the sword as you experiment with the weight of the blade, it's perfectly balanced.

"Go ahead and ask what you will, you bested me in combat anyway..." The voice sounds a little upset at having been so utterly defeated.

>Ask as many questions as you want answered.
>>"What is your name?"
>>"What are you?"
>>"What are you capable of doing?"
>>"Are there any other intruders in this castle than me?"
>>"Can you tell me about your master?"
>Write-in...

>>4354714
>>>"What is your name?"
>>>"What are you?"
>>>"Are there any other intruders in this castle than me?"
>>>"Can you tell me about your master?"
>>Write-in...
>>What is your favorite color?
>>What is the capital of Assyria?
>>What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

>>4354714
>"What is your name?"
>"What are you?"
>"What are you capable of doing?"
>"Are there any intruders in this castle aside from myself?"

>>4354941
+1

>>4354717
>pulling a Monty Python
Would Arthur even do this in-character?

>>4354993
Seeing as he seems to be a pretty big movie buff, probably.

>>4354714
>"What is your name?"
>"What are you?"
>"What are you capable of doing?"
>"Can you tell me about your master?"
>"How long has it been since you've been ordered to guard this place?"
>"Are there any other intruders in this castle than me?"
>"Is there anything of interest in this Castle besides you?"

>>4354714
backing >>4355076
seems to cover it all

>>4355076
>>4354714
+1

"Right, well then. First off. Your name. What is it? Normally I wouldn't have this problem, but I don't seem to be able to discern your name." It seems like you can't discern the name of something which hasn't fully revealed itself. This sword's true form has likely yet to be revealed to you, the incomplete form not allowing the Book of Spirits to register the name of the being, if you had to guess.

"The name I was given when I was created is Engelsklinge, though if you must, you may use a shortened version, such as Engel." The sword answers you matter-of-factly.

"Right then... Engel, what exactly are you?" A magical sword, obviously, but you really aren't an expert on magical swords in general, so getting some context behind what this weapon actually is would be really quite helpful.

"I am an artificial reconstruction of the spirit of an angel, though I was bound to this blade in order to stabilize my manifestation in this world and prevent my dispersal due to my... unstable spiritual form." An artificial spirit of an angel? That's quite the claim for the sword to make... You think.

"And what is it that you are actually capable of doing then, Engel?" Best to judge the capabilities of your new ally/weapon. Of course, you can tell that the sword is supernaturally sharp judging by how easily it cut through the stone floor when you thrust it downwards, but it clearly has more capabilities than just that.

"I am capable of manipulating weaponry of any kind, granted that said weaponry isn't being wielded by somebody too magically strong for me to usurp control of their weaponry from..." There's a pause, and you feel a glare. "Of course, I am also capable of partially manifesting my true form to wield myself, as you saw before." The sword gives a succinct summary of its powers, of course it can probably elaborate on the limits of its powers should it be asked, but for now you'd much rather ask it some other questions.

"Your master. What kind of a person were they? What can you tell me about them?" You would like to know just a little more about this mysterious master this sword seems so devoted to.

"I'm not going to reveal too much about them, I do still consider them my master, after all. Know this though, my master was the one who brought me life, and possibly the greatest weapon-smith to have ever lived. The enchantments she was capable of placing upon the weaponry she created were of far greater quality than any other. Though... she was kind of... difficult to get motivated." The sword sounds kind of annoyed by something as it finishes a brief explanation of the woman it calls master. You don't get to find out much more than that they are a great weapon-smith. Though that does leave you with quite a big question.

"If she was such a good weapon-smith, why were those weapons surrounding you so low quality?" It doesn't make any sense! A brief inspection of the sword you snatched out of the air shows that there are already cracks in the metal where you clashed with Engel, who is a far higher quality blade than any of the others in the room

"..." There's no response from the sword. You stare at the sword for a while and wait for it to finally respond to you. "These weapons are all the unfinished weapons she never enchanted." Eventually it gives in and tells you why the room isn't full of legendary weaponry. Unfortunate, stumbling upon a treasure trove of magical and enchanted weaponry would've been an excellent boon.

"How long have you been guarding this room anyway?" You continue your questions for the sword.

"Oh, hmm... Last time I counted it was... seventeen thousand eight hundred and forty six days?" That's almost fifty years! This sword may as well give up on ever seeing it's original master ever again, they've almost certainly forgotten about it or they've been killed.

"Right. Well, that's... quite a long time. You don't really want to upset the sword about the fact that the woman who created it is probably dead. "Then what about intruders, do you know of anyone else in this castle without permission other than me?"

"Other than the woman standing behind you scowling at me... only one. Though I don't know where he went after he entered the castle, I could feel his entrance though, and I haven't felt any sensation of anybody leaving just yet either. I wouldn't have dared to have left this room before though, so he could've gone anywhere." Finally, some progress! You know that you aren't alone in this castle now! All you need to do is find this other intruder!

"Last question then, Engel. Other than you, is there anything else of any interest in this castle?" You'd rather have a resident of the castle give you the guidance on where the most interesting places in this castle actually are. It's pretty much a guarantee that you'll find your intruder somewhere around there.

"For some reason, I feel like I should point you towards the crypts beneath the castle. I... I don't know why, either. But for some reason, I feel like that they are important to me..." The voice emanating from the blade gives you a recommendation to head towards the crypts, a little odd, and you aren't quite sure if the Dark Lord Candidate you seek will be lurking about in a tomb.

>Just follow Engel's advice and head to the crypts.
>Explore somewhere else in the castle instead.
>Now that you know that you aren't alone in the castle, leave and have Camellia destroy the Castle.
>Write-in...

>>4356343
>Just follow Engel's advice and head to the crypts.

>>4356343
>Just follow Engel's advice and head to the crypts.

>>4356343
>Now that you know that you aren't alone in the castle, leave and have Camellia destroy the Castle.

>>4356343
>Just follow Engel's advice and head to the crypts.
MAP COMPLETION
ITEM COLLECTING

"Alright then, the crypts it is." You look at your newly acquired sword, and soon realize you don't have a place to actually sheathe it. Engel notices your dilemma and tries to leave your grip. You allow the sword to do so and it simply floats behind you.

"I am a sword without need for a sheathe. For now, I will act to defend you from attacks by myself. If you wish to actually rely on my power as a personal weapon, then you need only call my name and I shall act as required." Despite only considering you some sort of substitute master for the woman it considers it's true master, the sword is actually surprisingly helpful in this regard.

"Of course, but there will likely come a time when it is less helpful for you to be floating in the sky than it would be for you to simply play the part of a mundane weapon. I am guaranteed to draw the attention of the non-magical if I were to go into a public place with you just floating around me like you are, so can you actually disguise yourself as a normal weapon? Preferably one with a sheathe." You don't exactly want to be forced to carry about a sword that is clearly magically sharpened without something protecting the blade, or rather something protecting everything else from the blade. Really, doing so would be just begging to cut yourself, and with all the blood drinkers you seem to attract, you don't exactly think bleeding in front of them would be a wise move to make.

Engel makes a distinct huffing noise before responding. "If you insist, I have the capacity to manifest a sheathe around myself." It doesn't say anything more than that. You simply shrug at the swords agitation and leave the room without another word.

Your descent down to the ground floor is swift, and before long you find yourself opening up the trapdoor that leads into the crypts of the castle. You're a little hesitant to wander into the crypts considering just how many foes could be lurking within the dusty unkept halls of the castle's tombs, but you don't allow that hesitation to stop you from walking down the stone steps leading deep underground.

The hall is pitch black, but fortunately Engel lights up light some kind of magical torch and a bright white light illuminates the long room you are traversing. You walk past dozens of elegantly carved stone sarcophagi until you come across a portcullis, or rather the remains of a portcullis. Looks like something melted straight through it. Supernaturally hot fire? You must be close.

As you walk into the dark room blocked off by the portcullis, you see the glow of lit torches some distance ahead. Just as you're about to turn to tell your new weapon to stop emanating light, it stops emitting the light. The three of you proceed in silence, with Mistral remaining in her wind form. Up ahead, you can hear the sound of something being hit repeatedly with quite a lot of force.

"Open damn it!" You enter into a large room as the man responsible for all the noise yells an exclamation of anger. He's surrounded by flames and has red hair. This must be the Dark Lord Candidate, but why is he actually down here?

>Make your presence known, if this man is supposed to be your equal then you'll face him on even terms.
>Shoot him in the back of the head.
>Call out to the man, ask him a few questions. (What?)
>Whisper to your allies to prepare to attack the man, four against one.
>Write-in...

>>4357953
>Make your presence known, if this man is supposed to be your equal then you'll face him on even terms.

>>4357953
>Whisper to your allies to prepare to attack the man, four against one.

>>4357953
>>Whisper to your allies to prepare to attack the man, four against one.

>>4357953
>Make your presence known, if this man is supposed to be your equal then you'll face him on even terms.

>>4357979
>>4358012
>>4358016
>>4358025
This is a fucking frustrating choice. Do we all-out attack Dario right fucking now and cheat WhatIs out of a boss fight? Or 1v1 Dario and maybe risk dying to have a kino duel? Dario seems like the type to value a straight-up brawl. Having a 4v1 against him might fire him up enough to go all-out himself, while soloing him might earn some sort of strange respect.

What do you guys think? I want some discussion before I make my vote and break this tie.

>>4358091
We're just here to kill him, we can find out what he's here for later.

>>4358091
Oh, and if we 1v1 then we cheat Jeste out of a rematch, when she was really looking forward to helping get rid of him.

>>4358091
I'll die before I pass up a kickass Dark Lord Candidate duel. This is the time to prove we're worthy and show how much we've mastered our Power.

>>4358095
But consider >>4358094. Do you want Jeste to feel bad and start ditching us, or worse?

>>4358117
She's a demon. A succubus, even. They get passion. She'll understand why we had to duel one of our fated rivals man-to-man, fist-to-fist.

>>4358122
You've convinced me. If Jeste gets mad, there's always semen that can ease tensions in more ways than one.

>>4357953
>Make your presence known, if this man is supposed to be your equal then you'll face him on even terms.
"Hey hothead! I think you got the wrong door. The morgue is two blocks down."

>>4358122
I'd just rather we kill him before he can teleport away.
Announcing ourselves just forfeits the element of surprise.
Jeste has personal feelings tied up in Dario too, he ended up attacking her circus indiscriminately.
I doubt she'll stay out of the fight if we reveal ourselves anyway.

>>4358128
I mean she did say she wasn't into that basic bitch succubus shit but okay.

>>4358910
You already vote?

Well, if this man is supposed to be a Dark Lord Candidate, then it's only right for you to face him in combat one on one without resorting to sneak attacks. Jeste might want her revenge, but this is a battle that you feel only you have the right to take part in. It just feels... right. To fight him with cowardice or by teaming up on him in a way would suggest you consider the man to be superior to you. No. If you are to take the throne of the Dark Lord, then you'll face this challenge as a true battle to the death between two men who were born to inherit the power of Dracula.

You take a step forward and grasp Engel with your left hand. "Illuminate the room, Engel." You speak quietly at your sword, which hesitates for a moment before complying, brightly lighting you up and revealing you to the red haired man standing over a sarcophagus that he is apparently unable to open. He's wearing a black parka and a brown shirt, as well as a pair of jeans. When it comes to the image you have in mind for a Dark Lord, this man is practically the opposite.

The man looks over to the new presence in the room and snarls. "Who the hell are you supposed to be? If you're here to get in my way, I'll burn you!" Poor fashion sense and he really is a rude thug. What a terrible shame. You were hoping to be able to have a least some intellectual conversation with him, but it seems like he's not exactly the intelligent type. A shame, but you suppose that not every Dark Lord Candidate you encounter is going to be able to make good conversation.

"Get in your way? Well now that remains to be seen, would dying get in the way of your plans?" You smile at the man arrogantly before you continue causing the man to bare his teeth. "My name is Arthur Bernhard, I am a Dark Lord Candidate, just like I wager that you are. I'd have your name before I killed you, though." Still, as inadequate as this man might be in oratorical skill, he's still supposed to be a candidate for Dracula's Power. Honestly with as flawed as he is, it's no wonder that Chaos wants to see him executed.

"You got some nerve, punk!" The man needs to cool off, seriously. It can't be healthy to be so angry all the time. Well, especially not for him, considering that you're about to kill him. "The name..." The man points one of his hands at you, open palmed. "Is Dario Bossi!" As he finishes his introduction, a huge burst of flame shoots forwards from his hand and surges towards you!

File: Dario1.png (189 KB, 579x579)

189 KB PNG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGyWF9tt6FM

You activate Dominus for a brief moment in order to allow you to get out of the way of the dangerous attack, before you turn back to Jeste. "Don't interfere. This is between me and him. I'll leave him alive after I defeat him so you can have the final blow though." You give the succubus a confident smile as you turn away from her and put all your focus back on the fight. Just at that moment you can feel the floor underneath you heating up, forcing you to dive to the side just as a pillar of blame billows forth from the ground.

"Hahahahaha!" Dario laughs as you avoid his attacks, apparently amused by your apparent difficulty in avoiding his attacks. Laugh it up all you want, idiot. All he's doing is using overly showy attacks! If he were more intelligent, he could probably use his ability to manipulate fire to create truly lethal attacks that couldn't be avoided like this. Still, he's more than making up for his lack of skill with just how much power he's able to put out. Despite the clumsiness of his attacks, he's not leaving enough openings for you to exploit through just a moments activation of Dominus or your own natural abilities. Still, you've managed to get about halfway towards him. "You idiot! You walked right into my trap!" Dario stupidly warns you of his attack before actually hitting you with it, and in that moment hundreds of balls of flame materialize around you in a strange sort of cage, primed to fire straight at you!

>Use your magic to defend yourself. Try to manipulate the flame!
>Use your own Power to defend yourself. Reveal the Power of Destruction!
>Start to use Dominus more freely, use extended bursts of its power.
>Allow the flame to hit you. Have faith in Camellia's armored suit.
>Write-in...

>>4359244
>Allow the flame to hit you. Have faith in Camellia's armored suit.

>>4359244
She did say the suit was fireproof... still, I'm not sure I want to assume flame powered by the power of Dracula works the same way ordinary fire does.
>Use your own Power to defend yourself. Reveal the Power of Destruction!
Just delete enough of the fireballs to make an opening and close the distance.

>>4359244
>Use your own Power to defend yourself. Reveal the Power of Destruction!

>>4359244
>Allow the flame to hit you. Have faith in Camellia's armored suit.

>>4359244
>Allow the flame to hit you. Have faith in Camellia's armored suit.
Best girl made this for us. Trusting in her is the way to go here.

>>4359244
>Allow the flame to hit you. Have faith in Camellia's armored suit.

>>4359244
>Use your own Power to defend yourself. Reveal the Power of Destruction!
I don't think it's rated for dark lord candidate fire

>>4359244
>Use your own Power to defend yourself. Reveal the Power of Destruction!
Remember kids, when it comes to defense, nothing beats not getting hit.

It's a 4-4 tie.
We need a tiebreaker.

Think about how stupid we're going to look if we trust in the suit and it doesn't work.

>>4359244
>>Use your own Power to defend yourself. Reveal the Power of Destruction!

>>4360627
Then I shall break it.

The time for games is over. It's time to show your enemy what he is truly up against. Credit to your opponent where it's due, this would be quite a deadly ability, and while Camellia seemed to believe her armor was totally fireproof, you doubt that it's truly completely heatproof, and you'd really rather avoid getting third degree burns from the transferral of heat through to you. Never mind that the suit doesn't cover your hands, head and feet. All of which you could seriously do without losing. No, you can't allow this attack to hit you, instead it's time to reveal your trump card.

You call upon the energy you hold within yourself once more. There's no point in keeping the Power of Destruction hidden from this enemy any longer, and you doubt there will be anything more demoralizing for your opponent than to see his trap so easily walked through despite the faith he seems to have in his own victory. Forming the power of destruction into something resembling half a bubble that covers your body, you dash forwards and through the fireballs as they are shot towards you at high speed. You deactivate the shield of destructive energy the moment you are clear of the attack, and a look behind you tells you that you probably made the wise decision. The floor where you were standing has become molten stone, so hot that the puddle of lava formed from the extreme heat is actually melting the floor around it.

Dangerous as the attack might've been though, you remained completely unharmed from it, and are now a mere two meters away from Dario, who has yet to properly recover from you just bypassing his trap completely. He raises a hand towards you in an attempt to once again use his flame manipulation, but the moment he raises his hand, you slash downwards with Engel, taking off his hand completely before he can use it to attack you. You grin triumphantly as the severed hand falls to the floor, but your moment of triumph is short lived as both the severed hand and Dario dissipate into flames.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZkWCE06Iik

He appears once again directly to your side, somehow in the midst of a kick! You barely have time to brace yourself for the impact as he slams his leg into you with incredible force, and you're actually lifted off your feet and sent tumbling across the floor by the power of the unexpected attack! You quickly get back up to your feet, doing your best to ignore the throbbing pain. Dario hasn't made another move, simply standing where he was when he sent you flying with that kick. He looks at you with a savage grin. "You aren't half bad! Still, it's pretty obvious that you aren't a fighter. I've fought drunks whose attacks were harder to read than yours!" Your opponent taunts you upon gaining the upper hand. Unfortunately, that's not the only hand he's gained either, as the hand that you just severed has miraculously reattached itself to the man. Your opponent is definitely more troublesome than you had expected him to be, but how are you supposed to kill a man who can regenerate from any damage?

Really, the answer is quite simple. You're going to have to kill him in a single strike, ending his life before he can even think to heal his own wounds. The worst part about it is that he either doesn't seem to suffer from the fatigue that plagues you from continued use of your power, or his ability to manipulate flame is just that much more cost efficient than the Power of Destruction or Dominus. How very bothersome. Fortunately though, you are ready for Dario's next attack, once again he tries to dissipate to teleport into one of your blindspots, but you somehow felt the attack coming before it could connect, and you just about manage to dodge out of the way of it. You even manage to counterattack him by slash across his chest with Engel, but the wound you cause is healed almost as you cut him, flames flickering to rejoin flesh and even the clothing he's wearing.

Dario leaps backwards upon healing the damage, and scowls at you. "Could you stop fucking doing that? Being cut still hurts, you know?" The rude youth curses at you, yet you pay him no heed. Seems that despite his ability to regenerate from the damage being dealt to him, he still feels it just as you felt his powerful kick. You're really quite thankful that Camellia gave you a superior version of your previous suit. You're pretty certain that kick was strong enough to have shattered your ribs had you still been wearing the gray suit.

You drop Engel to the ground, allowing the sword to clatter upon the stone floor of the room. It's obvious to you that the cutting power of the sword alone won't be sufficient for defeating this opponent, and you'll need to use the Power of Destruction for a decisive attack. "I'll make sure to take greater effort to avoid only hurting you next time then, and instead I'll focus entirely on killing you. How does that sound?" Dario doesn't make a response and instead stares at you silently, a burning hatred in his eyes as the man glowers at you. Seems that the time for words has come to an end. A conclusion to this battle must be reached. However, Dario is waiting for you to make the first move.

>Use the Power of Destruction to erase the space between the two of you, then finish him off by using the Power to destroy his head.
>Use the Power of Destruction to create a large blade of destructive energy to wipe your opponent off the face of the planet.
>Attempt to destroy the area Dario is standing in with the Power of Destruction.
>Wrap both of your fists in the Power of Destruction, use them for both defense and offense as you charge towards Dario.
>Write-in...

>>4361048
>Use the Power of Destruction to erase the space between the two of you, then finish him off by using the Power to destroy his head.

>>4361048
>Wrap both of your fists in the Power of Destruction, use them for both defense and offense as you charge towards Dario.

>>4361048
>Wrap both of your fists in the Power of Destruction, use them for both defense and offense as you charge towards Dario.

>>4361048
>Wrap both of your fists in the Power of Destruction, use them for both defense and offense as you charge towards Dario.

You guys realize that he'll regenerate from any damage our fists make?
And that we can't block another omnidirectional attack with just our fists?

>>4361048
>>Use the Power of Destruction to erase the space between the two of you, then finish him off by using the Power to destroy his head.
Hey we can do that, too!

>>4361111
If destroying his head is supposed to work, we can do it with the PoD on our fists.

>>4361119
Not when he can teleport from the attack.
If we teleport to him he has no opportunity to react, but running at him with fists that can't be stopped will make him stay at distance spamming fire attacks, or make him go after one of our allies as a hostage.

>>4361048
>Wrap both of your fists in the Power of Destruction, use them for both defense and offense as you charge towards Dario..

>>4361122
He has problems with his stamina, so we should be able to win by attrition if we play our cards right.

>>4361122
He can't kill Jeste, we know that already, and she's the only ally here with us, so him going after a hostage is a non-issue. We're never going to improve our core combat ability if we keep using these shortcuts, though; that's what he was just calling us out on. We need to get in there and come to grips with him, not teleport around and try to delete his head with a no-warning field of destruction. That's 'easily exploitable boss' behavior.

>>4361128
Going by Arthur's own observations, we get tired more quickly than he does.
He'll just perform a disappearing act if he senses his death.

>>4361130
Using a strategy we're unfamiliar with in the middle of an important fight isn't the best way to get more fighting experience, it's more likely to let him get away or get us killed.
We should just get rid of him, he doesn't know we can do that yet so he won't see it coming.

How many Castlevania bosses killed you on your first few times fighting them? 'Easily exploitable boss' behaviour only applies when your enemies fight you multiple times, and we intend for Dario to die right here.

>>4361048
>Wrap both of your fists in the Power of Destruction, use them for both defense and offense as you charge towards Dario.
>"Come on! Let's go!"

Yep, I definitely don't understand how rushing at him with our fists is supposed to be a decisive move to finish the fight.
Especially when Arthur just thought that the only way to kill him is in one shot with a surprise attack before he can heal himself.
Do we want to hunt Dario down again or something?

>>4361048
>Wrap both of your fists in the Power of Destruction, use them for both defense and offense as you charge towards Dario.

This is it. All you need to do to put an end to this fight and an end to Dario's life is reach him and kill him in a single blow. For most people, this would be a nearly impossible feat, the flame Dario commands has made him more than dangerous enough that he could probably defeat an unlimited amount of opponents without a direct counter to his abilities. Honestly, the Power Dario wields is without a doubt incredibly powerful. The worst part is, despite the thuggish intellect of it's wielder, he knows how to use the power incredibly well.

It's an irritating thing to admit, but Dario likely has better control over his power than you do over your own. Be this due to additional practice on his part or just a difference in his ability to manipulate flame compared to your far more esoteric ability to manipulate destruction itself, it's quite obvious which ability sounds simpler just from the effects alone. Though you do wonder if you are capable of transforming your body into the energy you manipulate like he does... probably best not to try though, trying to turn yourself into destruction itself sounds like it would be a disaster waiting to happen.

Still, despite Dario's greater skill with his power, you're confident in your own strength. Your power is the superior one! You wrap your fists in the destructive energy of your Power and charge straight towards Dario, using the energy surrounding your hands to destroy the barrage of fireballs sent your way. It's really quite effortless to punch through the flame, and that moment truly solidifies your own belief that Chaos saw fit to bless you with the greater ability. Of course she did, after all, you are the most qualified to carry out her will and become the Dark Lord, after all.

You approach Dario, who doesn't look surprised by you managing to get through his attack, you almost hesitate for a moment as a moment of doubt tries to seize hold of you, but you don't allow yourself to be caught off guard by the idea your opponent planned for this. You bring your left hand down on Dario, intending to end his life instantly by erasing the majority of his brain, this is it! You've won!

Only for Dario to jolt his head to the side and allow your hand to pass all the way through his body. Your hand continues it's path downwards through his body, and you end up completely bisecting the man, only for the two halves to once again become whole. You brace your body and expect a counter attack. Only for nothing to happen.

Instead, Dario is standing almost as far away as he can possibly get from you. What is he up to? "Ahahahahaha! Hahahahahaha!" He has the audacity to start laughing once again, you've half the mind to remove the space between the two of you and ensure the next attack is wide enough that it erases his entire body no matter how he might choose to dodge! But before you get that opportunity, something out of the corner of your eyes stops you. When you attacked Dario, he was standing directly in front of one of the stone sarcophagi, and your attack actually cut into the stone of the sarcophagus. While normally you wouldn't pay this much attention, the sparking dark purple lightning emanating from the coffin is enough for you to back away from it.

You manage to get away from the coffin just in time too, as it explodes violently and scatters sharp fragments of stone about the room like deadly bullets. You are thankfully protected from the shrapnel of the explosion thanks to Camellia's suit, which absorbs the impact of the small sharp bullets easily. Then a female voice echoes through the room from the centre of the explosion, the speaker currently obscured by a cloud of dust. "Who is fool enough to disturb my eternal slumber?" They sound genuinely irritated that they've been freed. "I was having such a nice dream too..." The cloud of dust clears and the speaker is finally revealed to be a girl, appearance wise about twenty years old and with floor length silver hair. The most striking feature she has however isn't her extraordinarily long hair, it's the symbol that seems to have been tattoed on her right cheek, which is so large that the circular design is tattooed on her neck too.

The design itself is a rather complex one of both black and white ink, a moon with two stars surrounded by eight spikes like that of a star. The top right of the circle being the wings of an angel whilst the top left are the wings of demons. The bottom of the design features two dragons intertwined, one black and one white. You aren't entirely sure why you focus so much on her tattoo, but something tells you that it's important. The woman has a really quite imposing feeling to her as she stares at you. More imposing than Sophia, even. You aren't quite sure how to react to the appearance of the woman from the coffin, but she is looking at you not with the grace one would expect you would show to your savior, but with the gaze of a hungry predator looking at defenseless prey.

>Attack the new arrival, get her out of the way first so you can resume your battle with Dario.
>Ignore the woman and instead charge at Dario once again, this time catching him off guard through erasing space.
>Tell Jeste to deal with the woman while you deal with Dario.
>Say something to the woman (What?)
>Write-in...

>>4362808
>Ignore the woman and instead charge at Dario once again, this time catching him off guard through erasing space.

What do you know?
Charging at him was dumb.

>>4362808
>Ignore the woman and instead charge at Dario once again, this time catching him off guard through erasing space.
Huh. That wasn't quite what I was thinking we'd do. Oh well.

>>4362808
>Ignore the woman and instead charge at Dario once again, this time catching him off guard through erasing space.

>>4362808
>>Say something to the woman (What?)
>"'Scue me, just trying to murder a graverobber."

>>4362808
>Ignore the woman and instead charge at Dario once again, this time catching him off guard through erasing space.
>"We're busy. Please give us some time and space. Speaking of space..."

>>4362808
>that symbol
DEVIL FORGEMASTER CONFIRMED

>>4362850
I gotta know what you were expecting to happen from making a really telegraphed attack by rushing at the guy who just said he can see through all our moves.

>>4363341
Well clearly he was expecting to use our skills as a twenty something whose never been in a fight prior to several weeks ago to slap the guy that has probably been in more bar brawls than we've had months alive.

Personally I don't see how anyone could expect to reasonably close in range with a teleporting foe without some serious mega-plus-double speed boosts going on.

Or he just wants Dario to escape. Maybe find him down the line and go out for drinks.

Tearing your eyes away from the new presence in the room, you refocus on Dario, who's own attention is entirely on the woman who has appeared in the room. Too bad for him, this moment of distraction on his part is going to be his undoing! You spread out the Power of Destruction towards the man and allow it to erase the distance between you and Dario, instantly moving the two of you into each other's range. The overwhelming advantage however belongs to you, as Dario is caught completely off guard by your use of the power, now all you need to do is finish him off! You surround your right hand with enough energy to erase the entirety of his head and punch forward. This is the end!

Or it would've been, had your arm not suddenly beem stopped by a vicelike grip of cold fingers. You lose your focus and the Power of Destruction you had intended to end Dario's life with dissipates. "I believe that I asked you a question, it's awfully rude to ignore a lady." There's no choice! You'll need to activate Dominus to break away from this woman! Yet before you can do so, she simply throws you to the side with incredible speed! You activate Dominus in order to prevent yourself from splattering against the wall. You still manage to leave an impact crater in the wall of the tomb, but you thankfully aren't hurt by the throw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8EfxAhz8-o

You look up just in time to see Dario staring at the apparent new mutual enemy with caution in his eyes, the woman is incredibly fast, and even he with his regenerative ability is quite wary of being caught unaware by the woman. Seems that this duel has fast turned into something of a free for all. Dario's passive expression quickly turns into one of pure wrath. "You stupid bitch! How dare you ruin a good fight!" All things considered, despite the incredibly lethal stakes of the battle between the two of you, it seems that Dario was actually enjoying himself. What an odd man. You pull yourself loose from the wall and get back to your feet in time to see Dario dissipate into flames and appear behind the woman, readying a similar kick to the one he managed to land on you.

"Predictable." Only for the woman to easily sidestep the attack and grab his leg before throwing him into the same wall she threw you into, Dario unlike you manages to avoid impacting the wall at all, turning his body into flames and canceling out his momentum. "How insolent. Your petty squabbles mean nothing to me, you shall pay for waking me from my self imposed sleep. I wished never to wake again unless a cure for my... condition could be found." The woman begins walking towards the two of you slowly. "Oh well, if it is truly my fate to succumb to this vampiric bloodlust, then so be it." This woman... she's powerful. Maybe even as powerful as Alucard!

Before the woman can reach either of you though, a boot slams into the side of her face and sends her reeling to the side, Jeste has finally seen fit to get herself involved in the battle. "Sorry, but I can't let you do that. After all, I might've been willing to stand aside for Arthur's sake, but I'm not about to let some decrepit old tomb dweller steal my prey... or uhm, kill my boss?" Jeste doesn't sound so convinced by how she phrased that, but that doesn't stop her from pointing the trident she stole at the vampire woman. By all rights, Jeste ought to be a few orders of magnitude older than the vampire before you, but whatever.

"How tiresome." The woman looks at the three of you standing against her. As annoying as it might be, it seems as if you're going to have to work together with Dario to defeat this opponent. "My name is Anneliese, you two humans ought to take that name into the afterlife with you. As for you, demon, I suppose I'll have to destroy your soul, won't I?" The vampire yawns tiredly. "Could you two do me a favor and kill each other while I deal with this demon? If you do, I might yet be convinced to spare the winner."

Dario spits before muttering under his breath. "Damn silver haired bastard set me up. I should've known not to trust him. Incredible power my ass!" He turns towards you and is clearly annoyed by the idea by the very idea of what he's about to suggest. "D'ya mind if we called a uh... truce? I kind of want to kill this bitch more than I want to kill you right now, ya know?" Despite your dislike for the man's demeanor, you can absolutely understand the sentiment. "We can go back to killing each other after we get rid of the bitch."

>Agree with Dario. This woman is clearly beyond any of you alone.
>Disagree with Dario, simply fight against both him and the woman at the same time with Jeste's assistance.
>Say nothing, instead attempt to kill Dario without another word exchanged.
>Write-in...

>>4364472
>Agree with Dario. This woman is clearly beyond any of you alone.

>>4364472
>Agree with Dario. This woman is clearly beyond any of you alone.

>>4364472
>>Agree with Dario. This woman is clearly beyond any of you alone.

>>4364472
>Have Mistral, Engel and Jeste fight the Woman, and attempt to kill Dario yourself.

>>4364472
>>Agree with Dario. This woman is clearly beyond any of you alone.
We can't have any more female cast running around. Waifu bingo is getting really crowded as is.

>>4364559
Hey, a devil forgemaster would be a wonderful addition to our army.

>>4364584
She's already a problem. She'd probably be a problem as an ally too. Also, no.

>>4364472
>Agree with Dario. This woman is clearly beyond any of you alone.

You look at Anneliese, the woman seems to be taking the thought of battling the two of you very lightly, despite having effectively sneak attacked you, it's clear that she's on a whole different level to you and Dario. You don't bother looking in the direction of your rival. "Fine. We kill her and then we settle things between the two of us."

"I don't really get why you want to kill me so much, but alright. I'll be happy to burn your ass to a crisp after this bitch is out of the way. Speaking of..." Dario slams his hand into the ground and a wave of flame shoots towards the vampire who opposes you both. She doesn't even attempt to avoid the flame, simply moving her hand to the side and canceling out the intense flame with a chilling blast of air. What she isn't expecting however is what's behind the wave of fire, as you took the opportunity to get behind the flame and use it as a sort of smoke screen to attack through. Using a few strings of destructive energy attached to your fingers, you intend to dice the woman into pieces!

She takes a step backwards in surprise yet it's not enough, the strings of destructive energy reach her and just as you had hoped they would, pass through her flesh without being slowed down for even a moment. But... if this woman is a vampire, then you'll need to finish her off! Before the pieces of her body even start to fall to the ground, you activate Dominus and plunge your hand into her chest and grab her heart, though just as you're about to use the Power of Destruction to erase her heart, you notice something is very... very wrong.

Though she should've fallen apart thanks to your attack from the Power of Destruction, she's still standing there, perfectly fine. In fact, she's not acting like she was hit by the attack at all! Then your own heart sinks when you realize that your hand didn't face any resistance at all when piercing through her chest to grasp her heart! "Arthur! Get away from there! It's an illusion!" Jeste calls out in panic as she realizes that something is wrong at the same time you do.

"Correct." The vampire appears at the exact same moment that the image of her disappears." That is a pretty interesting ability you have there, to cut through and destroy parts of an illusion like that." Damn it! So it was a means of finding out your capabilities? "I suppose that now I've allowed the two of you have your attacks, it must be my turn." As she threatens to attack, something that looks like some sort of strange wizard creature appears, it's sitting atop a floating purple crystal but you can't see it's face on account of the massively oversized wizard hat that it's wearing, the staff it wields is an unimpressive wooden rod. The small wizard raises it's staff in the air and a white light starts to emanate from it! Is it casting some sort of spell?

Whatever it's doing, it sure is taking it's time. Anneliese however seems fine with just waiting for whatever it is the wizard creature is doing to actually be ready, and simply stands there with her arms crossed. Is she... taking you lightly? You'll make her regret that. Jeste seems to be preparing to attack at the exact same moment you do, and Dario looks at you to confirm that he'll only make a move against the woman when you do. Seems like even he has acknowledged that of anyone here, your ability has the best odds of actually killing the woman. Of course, Dario isn't aware of it, but you have one final trick up your sleeve in the form of Mistral, who has yet to intervene in the battle. You can only imagine it's because she's yet to spot an opening to attack your vampiric foe.

>Erase the space between yourself and Anneliese. Try to focus on killing the mage creature.
>Attempt to attack Anneliese and the mage by using the Power of Destruction as a ranged weapon.
>Draw Agartha and use it to kill the mage creature and to pressure the vampire.
>Draw upon the full power of Dominus. Tear the two of them apart and bathe in their blood.
>Write-in...

>>4366114
>Draw Agartha and use it to kill the mage creature and to pressure the vampire.

>>4366114
>Draw Agartha and use it to kill the mage creature and to pressure the vampire.

>>4366111
>66
>111
NICE NUMBERS WHATIS!
>something that looks like some sort of strange wizard creature appears, it's sitting atop a floating purple crystal but you can't see it's face on account of the massively oversized wizard hat that it's wearing, the staff it wields is an unimpressive wooden rod
>Wood Rod
LMAO ALL IT CAN DO IS TIME STOP OR LIGHTNING STRIKE SPAM HAHAHAHAHAHA
>Time Stop
oh no, bros...

>>4366114
>Draw Agartha and use it to kill the mage creature and to pressure the vampire.
A bullet or two should be enough to kill/desummon it

Since we have Dario's fire, I wonder if we could convince Mistral to contribute, combining his firepower with her wind magic at some point in this fight? Hit Anneliese with a firestorm dual tech basically.

Damn it! Whatever it is she's doing, you aren't just going to let it happen! You quickly draw Agartha and fire a stream of bullets at both the vampire and the strange wizard minion. While the effects on Anneliese are minimal at best, the bullets do easily rip through the wizard creature, and it falls lifelessly to the floor before dissipating into nothingness. It's actually surprisingly easy just how little you had to do to kill the creature. Anneliese looks tremendously disappointed at the result of what just happened.

She covers her face with her hand in in an exaggerated gesture of... shock? Before she begins to speak once again. "Oh no! You managed to defeat my summoned beast!" The shock falls out of her tone in an instant. "Oh well. As far as innocent devils go, that one was really quite worthless. So it's not much of a loss." The woman then stares at the three of you one after the other before shrugging. "If you don't mind me asking, is anyone about to drop dead? I wasn't really expecting you to be able to put up a fight and I really am quite thirsty." Nobody decides to humor the woman with a response. "I've gotten a good measure of your abilities now, and it's pretty obvious that you all have powers quite beyond the limits of a human, but this is really such a bore. Couldn't you have just been a hapless weakling explorer I could've sated my thirst on?" Despite having so far completely thrashed all three of you, Anneliese starts to complain.

"Well please accept my humblest apologies for not dying on your command, Anneliese." You do a fairly good job at holding back the anger you're actually feeling about this woman's sudden appearance from actually showing in your voice. "It's a shame you're so aggressive, somebody of your strength would've made a fine ally." You're just talking at this point to give everyone as much time as possible to formulate a plan. So far you know that you're facing an opponent who is hugely superior to you in physical strength, with a vast array of magical abilities that she has clearly only revealed the very beginnings of. However, she doesn't seem to be using her full strength to attack, if she were, then you doubt that weakling wizard would've been her first choice of attack.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere, you know." Is it really flattery if it's true? Your apology was insincere, but you genuinely do consider this woman powerful enough to have been a useful follower. Unfortunately she's decided to declare herself an enemy to you without actually listening to the situation itself.

"Oh I know that, I was just distracting you." You smile happily at the woman, who remains silent for a few seconds as she processes what you just said.

"Pardon?" As she states her surprise at your audacious statement, the floor underneath Anneliese erupts into a pillar of flame, consuming the vampire in a torrent of incinerating fire. You hadn't said a word, but Dario seemed to understand that you were setting everyone else up for an attack. Jeste also takes the opportunity as the pillar of flames engulfs the vampire, throwing the trident she stole from one of her fellow demons directly into the pillar of flame, only for a hand to reach out of the fire and bat the sharp trident away. Anneliese walks out of the pillar apparently unharmed, though the clothing she was wearing is falling apart. and she's clearly been singed by the fire. "You... You ruined my dress! How am I supposed to fight like this? It's so... undignified!" True to the vampires words, while she's not even close to being naked, large portions of the dress she had been wearing have been burnt away, revealing the vampire's alabaster skin.

Not... quite the result you had hoped for from pulling off a successful surprise attack on the vampire. Dario however is even angrier that his attack failed, in fact, the man is positively glowing, flame is radiating off of the man as he glares at the vampire who is trying her hardest to cover up the patches skin that can be seen thanks to her damaged outfit. Her midriff is half bared while one of her shoulders is completely visible. "I'll burn more than just your damn dress, next time." He takes a step forwards towards the vampire.

Anneliese stops trying to cover her body and the embarrasment she's caused by her damaged clothes seems to be eliminated in an instant and replaced with nothing but a cold murderous tone. "Next time? Whatever makes you think that I'm going to allow any of you to survive after seeing me like this?" She rushes forwards and immediately kicks Dario with enough force to cleave him in two, the sound of flesh tearing echoes about the room as the two halves of the Dark Lord Candidate are separated from each other. That won't put Dario down for long, but that could've easily been you! She half turns towards you, allowing you to see quite the unhinged smile. You need to think of something, and quick!

>Try using Dominus and the Power of Destruction together. You don't have a choice!
>Push the Power of Destruction to it's very limit.
>Push Dominus to it's very limit.
>Try to convince Anneliese to stop attacking. (By saying what?)
>Write-in...

>>4368259
>Try using Dominus and the Power of Destruction together. You don't have a choice!
Dario doesn't seem like the type to finish us off while we're weakened so I'm not too worried about our condition after this fight. This is the only way we have a chance.

>>4368259
>Try to convince Anneliese to stop attacking. ("You don't want to be a vampire anymore correct? When I become the Dark Lord I'm sure reversing your condition will be a simple feat.")

>>4368283
She doesn't have a complete grasp of the situation yet.
She probably still thinks Dracula is the Dark Lord, so if we offer her cooperation in curing her of Vampirism we can probably get her to pause in thought.
If we can get her to stop for a few minutes until we deal with Dario, things should work out.

>>4368259
>Try using Dominus and the Power of Destruction together. You don't have a choice!
Sorry but we already have enough waifus. Perish.

>>4368467
You do realize we're going to get the attraction of women no matter where we go because of our status?
What's the problem with just being allies with her?
Or at the least getting her to step aside and allow us to finish our fight with Dario without being completely drained because we went all-out to fight her when we could've talked instead?

>>4368259
>Try using Dominus and the Power of Destruction together. You don't have a choice!
Hopefully this won't tear our body to pieces.

>>4368484
It's not about the waifu. It's about sending a message.

>>4368566
A message saying what?

>>4368574
Who knows.

>>4368576
Yeah, me neither.

>>4368259
>Try to convince Annelise to stop attacking. ("You don't want to be a vampire anymore correct? When I become the Dark Lord I'm sure reversing your condition will be a simple feat.")
GET NEW VAMP WAIFU RETARDS

>>4368259
>>Try using Dominus and the Power of Destruction together. You don't have a choice!

>>4368586
Well just for that, no.

There's no choice! You'll have to use both Dominus and the Power of Destruction in conjunction with each other. You have no idea what sort of negative effect this is going to have on your body, but you'd imagine that it's going to be slightly less harmful that being kicked in two by Anneliese. Unlike Dario, you can't so easily shrug off lethal damage like literally being torn in half. You find yourself really wishing that you had the ability to recover from damage to your body like he can, if you could, then what you're about to do wouldn't be nearly as painful, you think.

You focus on the Power of Destruction and further bring out the chaotic energy, having it condense around both of your hands and taking the form of demonic claws. You then proceed to draw upon the full power of Dominus, granting you the incredible speed and strength of the glyph, and just in time too! As not an instant sooner than the activation of Dominus, Anneliese makes her move, thankfully, Dominus' enhancements upon your body give you the speed and perception you require to dodge out of the way of the swipe of her clawed hand, which slashes through the air inches from your throat instead of taking your head off entirely!

But you don't stop there. You capitalize on her failed attack by grabbing the offending limb with one of your hands, still wrapped in the destructive energy, your hand passes through her arm with ease. Anneliese screams at the pain of losing a limb and stumbles backwards. But you don't pay it any mind. She's disrespected you long enough and now she'll pay oh so very dearly for it. Your opponent looks at you with a look of fear for just a moment before she reasserts herself. "W-well done! Human! You've defea-" You leap towards her once again, you can tell that this time she'll be too wary of the Power of Destruction, so you instead slam her in the side with a tremendously powerful kick, not unlike the one she used moments ago to cleave Dario in two. She crashes into one of the walls, smashing through multiple of the stone sarcophagi as she does. Her body slumps to the floor.

You slowly walk towards her unmoving body not buying for an instant that your last attack actually took her down for good. "You can stop your pretending, vampire." The vampire shifts slightly as you stare at her. You should be feeling incredible pain from using the two powers together, but instead you simply feel infused with power. Like there's nothing on the planet that could stop you as you are now! Now face me and suffer the consequences of interfering with the affairs of the Dark Lord!" The lifeless body of Anneliese dissipates before your very eyes just as you are about to reach her to finish her off. "How cowardly. Where's your confidence now? You were so certain in your strength just a minute ago!" You try to taunt the vampire into revealing herself, next time you won't just let her survive a clash with only losing an arm.

Instead of revealing herself however, something entirely unexpected happens, as a familiar body materializing from the air is flung towards you, it's... Mistral? What just happened? Wasn't she in her wind form? You are forced to cease the continued existence of the Power of Destruction in order to safely catch your ally, her breathing is shallow and infrequent. But she's alive. She opens her eyes slowly. "I tried to... stop her from getting away... Sorry but I wasn't... strong... enough..." She reaches a hand up to caress your face before she recedes into unconsciousness just after informing you of her failed attempt to stop the vampire's escape. When you're certain that Anneliese won't be returning, you release your grasp on Dominus, twenty-five seconds after activating it, you finally cease drawing upon it.

The pain immediately brings you to your knees as you suffer the cost of using Dominus in conjunction with the Power of Destruction. You struggle to keep yourself from falling unconscious yourself, but manage to prevent the inviting abyss of rest from claiming you. You don't know if you can keep fighting right now though, while you managed to fend off the vampire, you don't know just how long this respite is going to last. Hopefully you managed to make her fear you with that display of your power. Though it really does seem that Dominus has a rather glaring effect on your personality, the dark power of the gylph seems to emphasize your negative feelings.

You eventually manage to get back to your feet, rising to your full height with Mistral still laying in your arms. You sling the fairy turned goddess over your shoulder and look around the room, only to find yourself alone. Dario is gone, as is Jeste. You must've been so focused on Anneliese upon activating Dominus that you didn't even bother to pay attention to whatever else was going on. Did they retreat without you? You do fortunately find Engel laying on the floor, yet upon picking up the blade, you find it heavy and unresponsive. Can... Can swords be knocked out?

Then you realize just how dire your situation truly is. If Jeste and Dario left at some point before the conclusion of your fight with Anneliese then that could really only mean one of two things. The first is that Jeste has betrayed you for Dario and abandoned you to fight Anneliese by yourself, and the second far more likely option is that she has decided to finish Dario off by herself! Then your heart stops. If that vampire is looking for people to feed on, then the two mostly harmless humans outside the castle would be terribly attractive targets! You truly hope that Camellia has enough strength to fend off Anneliese, who is hopefully weakened by your fight with her. It'll probably end up wounding you quite horribly, but you've still got some fight left in you, as long as Camellia is around to heal you, it should be fine.

>Look for Jeste and Dario, she can't beat him alone!
>Race out of the Castle and assist Camellia in protecting Anna and Celia.
>Try to get Engel to respond to you.
>Write-in...

>>4370421
>Try to get Engel to respond to you.
Engel, I require your full strength to save my allies from this menace. Lend me your aid and I swear I'll do everything in my power to repay you.

I think she's been concealing her true power, but I guess it's not a sure thing. Let's find out.

>>4370421
>Race out of the Castle and assist Camellia in protecting Anna and Celia.

>>4370429
We can wake her up later, every second we spend messing with her is another second we could be helping our other allies who are in imminent danger.

>>4370441
We can't exactly help our allies when we're completely exhausted as we are now. Using Dominus or the power of destruction could do some serious damage to us at this point.

>>4370444
Camellia can heal us if we go overboard, and we still have Agartha, the Revolver, and the Holy Dagger.
Us showing up out there would also have an effect on the morale of Anneliese and Camellia, the former who is afraid of us, and the latter who would be relieved at our survival.
And if we go after Dario it should be a swift kill and then we'd regroup with Camellia.
Standing still and talking to the sword who can't wield itself properly doesn't seem to be the wisest use of our time at the moment.

>>4370421
>Race out of the Castle and assist Camellia in protecting Anna and Celia.
Ah... I really want to go after Dario, but I can't help feeling it's better to be cautious with caring for our allies.

>>4370421
>Race out of the Castle and assist Camellia in protecting Anna and Celia.
Get them out of here, no sense in risking our lives any further

>>4370449
I don't see why we couldn't talk to Engel as we're running to help Camellia.

>>4370421
>Race out of the Castle and assist Camellia in protecting Anna and Celia.

>>4370591
Hmmm.
For me that would depend on how long the distance is between where we are and where Camellia is, if it's a long way then talking while running is alright, but if it's a short distance then I'd rather we keep our wits about us for any potential ambushes.
Engel is at her strongest when there's many weapons around her to use, so for the coming fight I don't think she'll be too instrumental to a favorable outcome.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Jeste can hold her own against Dario and getting Engel to respond to you can wait for when you're in a less urgent situation. Right now, you need to support Camellia in whatever is going on outside the castle! If Anneliese is attacking her, then you aren't sure how long she can last! You know she's strong, but you only managed to defeat the vampire by surprise upon using both the Power of Destruction and Dominus together! In truth, you don't even know if that would've been enough had you not caught her off guard. It was quite obvious that she was still unwilling or unable to use her full power against you. Although the idea of Anneliese holding back or somehow being stronger than she already is is quite the terrifying one.

You run through the crypts with the thankfully light goddess still hanging off of your shoulder, sorry for the rough ride, Mistral, but there's more important things to worry about than if Mistral is going to wake up feeling sore or not right now. You can only hope that you aren't too late to make a difference as you race through the silent tombs of the castle, the only noise audible being your hurried footsteps as you run as fast as your body currently allows, you don't want to push things by trying to use Dominus any longer than you have to, you already know that the only thing allowing you to remain standing right now is probably adrenaline.

Eventually you get out of the crypts and find yourself in the entrance hall to the castle once again, though just as you are about to leave the castle, you notice that Mistral is... gone? But... that can't be! You were just holding her a moment ago! What's happening? You expected to see at least some sign of a fight between Dario and Jeste, but there's... nothing?

"You've caused us no end of trouble, Mr. Bernhard." A voice echoes about the room. "Did you honestly believe you could just cheat destiny and not suffer the consequences for doing so?" The voice asks you a question that it doesn't expect you to answer. "Now, I'm going to offer you something of a deal, and it's up to you whether or not you take it." You don't lke the sounds of that at all.

"And would you mind revealing just who you are?" You won't be taunted by this man, whoever he is. You've genuinely had enough of people talking to you from unseen positions

"I'm really quite afraid I'm not at liberty to give you that information. All I can tell you is that I'm here on behalf of a... higher power." The voice evades answering your question, and instead gives a cryptic allusion to who could really only be God.

A higher power? "What are you then? Some kind of angel?" None of this makes any sense, have you actually attracted the attention of God Himself? A scary thought. But you were always opposed to Him, so you shouldn't really be all too surprised if these truly are angels.

"Something like that, but who I am is really not important. I'm here to offer you a deal." There's a brief pause in the man's voice. "In the next thirty seconds, one of your allies is going to perish." Your body tenses up at that revelation. "But, I wouldn't suggest panicking, time is completely frozen right now. There's no danger of them meeting their end while we talk."

"Let me guess. You're going to offer to save them if I give something to you." Really it's obvious what they are about to offer, but the one question you have is just what it is they could possibly want from you?

"You're a sharp one, aren't you?" The voice gives you honest praise. "Yes. I'll prevent their death in exchange for... five years of your life. No questions, take it or leave it."

>Accept the offer.
>Decline the offer.
>Tell the voice to go to hell.
>Write-in...

>>4372321
>>Decline the offer.
Fuck off Germain. Or Time Reaper. Aeon and Galamoth can both eat a dick. We need to go punch Death in the skeledick later on anyway so we can finangle some bullshit then. Hopefully.

>>4372321
>Decline the offer.

>>4372321
>Decline the offer.
FUCK OFF

>>4372321
>Accept the offer.
We're going to get the crimson stone eventually, right? 5 years off infinity still leaves us with eternal life.
>>4372345
>>4372388
If that's how you feel why not go with the tell him to go to hell option?

>>4372517
Because he was professional. It's only polite to respond in kind.

>>4372321
Wait, changing my vote to
>Decline the offer.
I just realized. We were fated to die yesterday, right? So if our lifespan is decreased by five years, we were fated to die five years ago. This voice has time powers. If we take the offer, he's going to go back in time and kill us five years ago.
Hard pass.

Oh boy, if one of our allies really does die in thirty seconds, Arthur's hatred of god and fate will bloom beautifully.
Can't wait to read it, whether we accept or decline.

>>4372523
I was thinking more that he'd shunt us 5 years into the future, and that we'd have to navigate a world we don't know the situation of.

Should we take what this guy says seriously anyway?
He probably would've told us we were fated to die too, but we lived through that.

>>4372321
>Decline the offer.

"You're kidding right? Not a chance." You outright refuse the voice. There's no way you'd make a deal with somebody like this, even if you didn't know that he was totally opposed to you, his overly smug nature is enough to get on your nerves

"Pardon?" The voice is surprised by your sudden rude refusal to his offer. "You really should reconsider, even you won't be able to-" You cut the man off. Enough of this.

"Do you really think me a fool? That I would so hastily take the offer of a man who proclaims to be an agent of the one my... benefactor calls Her enemy?" Your voice gets louder as you explain just why you wouldn't ever take his offer. "I've unshackled myself from the chains of destiny once before, and I won't allow any sort of predetermined nonsense decide my actions!" You begin yelling angrily, uncertain of the location of the voice so instead just bellowing into the apparently empty entrance hall. "Now, begone!" Your terms of rejection are really quite certain.

"That's it then?" The voice isn't shocked anymore, and instead has taken a tone of mocking derision. "What a shame. I had higher hopes for you, had you just accepted my deal, it would've saved you quite a bit of heartbreak." The voice starts laughing like a madman as he finishes his sentence, his laughter eventually trailing off. "Your time starts now, thirty seconds!" The voice bursts into laughter once again. "Good luck!" You feel the presence fade, and no sooner than it does, you find Mistral reappearing in your arms. You lay the goddess down on the floor and take a deep breath, already the time you have to save whoever it is that is supposedly going away is draining from you. You simply won't be able to find Jeste and Dario in so short a time, so you'll have to hope that it's one of your allies outside the castle!

Twenty five seconds. You race towards the double doors of the castle as quickly as your fatigued body can carry you.

Twenty seconds. You slam into the heavy double doors with all your might and go crashing through to the other side.

Fifteen seconds. You sprint down the pathway back towards the rest of your allies, you're not too late to save them!

Ten seconds. Your heart sinks in your chest as you find yourself looking upon a peaceful scene outside of the castle. There's no deadly battle occurring between Anneliese and Camellia, the Alura Une is instead simply sitting on top of the car swinging her legs.

Five seconds. Anna spots the look upon your face and approaches you as you race towards your allies. Maybe it's going to be some sort of surprise attack? You at least have a chance of stopping that!

"Arthur? What's going on? Did something go wrong in the-" Anna doesn't get to finish her sentence. A sharp black blade pierces through her throat and cuts off her speech entirely. Your heart stops beating and your eyes go wide as you try and fail to comprehend the scene in front of you. A man with a ridiculous looking white suit and white hair holds the blade piercing through your dear ally. His name, you are able to see thanks to that magical book of yours. Aeon.

Time freezes once again, and Anna remains standing motionless even after the blade piercing her throat is removed with a swipe, further tearing it's way through her body while she can't respond. You try to take a step forward towards the man but find your body unresponsive, then the man looks at you and smirks, a smirk that makes you want to tear his damn face off to see the grimace of the skull underneath. "You really should have accepted my offer, Mr. Bernhard. Now look at what I've been forced to do. It wasn't destiny I was referring to when I said one of your allies would die thirty seconds from now, nor was it by some foresight that I was certain of one of their deaths." It's that same voice. That same damn voice!

"You... you son of a bitch, I'll kill you!" You can no longer hold back your rage at the man as he walks away from you without a single care in the world. You try your hardest to move your limbs, but you find yourself unable to, while your torso and head remained unaffected by the freezing of time, the rest of your body is completely locked in place.

"No. You won't. Farewell, Mr. Bernhard, and remember. You could have prevented this, if only you weren't so short sighted." He disappears, and at the moment time resumes, you fall to your knees in despair and Anna's body falls to the ground, lifeless and unmoving.

"No." You utter the word softly as you look upon the collapsed body of the girl who was very likely your most loyal ally. She... She wasn't even a threat! Why? What could he have possibly gotten out of killing her? Was this all just because you didn't accept his ridiculous offer?

Camellia leaps off the car and races over to Anna, her face distraught as she picks the woman up. It's a horrible inversion of the scene you saw unfold before you only yesterday, but now it's Camellia cradling the lifeless body of Anna instead of the other way around. Camellia has no words to say as she simply looks at the body of the woman responsible for her existence. Celia remains in the car, you're glad that she hasn't gotten herself involved. Things are terrible enough already. "She's... She's gone, isn't she?" Camellia looks up at you, her eyes wet with barely restrained tears.

You're about to confirm Camellia's dreadful statement until a new presence makes itself known, Anneliese shows herself in front of you at the worst time possible, though she has now changed the dress she was wearing into one that appears similar to something Sophia would wear. You'd care more about her clothing change had the situation not been so terribly dire. The vampire looks at you, and then the body of the girl lying in your hands, before a rather terrible smile makes it's way to her face. Camellia is too involved with cradling the lifeless body of Anna to even recognize the new threat. "Goodness, it seems something terrible has happened out here." Her eyes are fixed on Anna's body. "Now, I know we had quite a disagreement back in the tomb, but I can save that girl." Anneliese gives you forbidden hope, and you feel like you already know what sort of offer she's going to make.

"You... can?" You look at your former enemy as she offers to help Anna, there's a triumphant smirk on her face.

"Well, it really depends on how you define the term 'save'. She won't exactly be able to be considered alive after all. But if you ask me, it's a win-win situation! You get your friend back from the... well, near dead, and I get to feed!" She turns to look at you. "But you better hurry up, it won't be long till her soul truly departs from her body and nothing can save her."

>Allow Anneliese to turn Anna into a vampire.
>Refuse Anneliese's offer. Let Anna go.
>Write-in...?

>>4373680
>Allow Anneliese to turn Anna into a vampire.
Anna did say she wanted to be turned into a vampire, after all. The choice of mistress isn't ideal, but it's better than letting her die.

File: 65283545247564.gif (1.94 MB, 480x270)

1.94 MB GIF

>>4373678
Well now Clock Boy. That was a strange way of signing a suicide note.

>>4373680
>Refuse Anneliese's offer. Let Anna go.
And be beholden to this crazy chick? No. Refuse all manipulators.

>>4373680
>Allow Anneliese to turn Anna into a vampire.

>>4373678
Why could the Book of Spirits show Aeon's name, but not show J or Engel or Legion?

>>4373680
>>Allow Anneliese to turn Anna into a vampire.
So, who's up for FGOing time just to spite Aeon.

>>4373695
J has magical amnesia and his true identity has been forgotten. It would also ruin the story and cause an unavoidable dead end if Arthur attacked Julius.
For Engel, you only saw the swords partially manifested true form.
And Legion is more of a nickname for a conglomerate being composed of hundreds of demons, it doesn't actually have a name. Also, again, it's true body is it's core.
It has it's limits.

Aeon however fully revealed himself to you and his identity is one he only didn't reveal himself out of personal choice.


I've also been thinking of changing how the book works slightly so now that Arthur is more experienced with the magical effect of the book, it only reveals to him the identity of people he actively wishes to find out the identity of. Instead of everyone always.

>>4373706
Make it so that instead of revealing the name of people, the book tells bad jokes relating to them.

>>4373680
>Allow Anneliese to turn Anna into a vampire.

>>4373695
...Could Aeon's plan be to get Anneliese into our group by having her revive Anna?
Or is her future contributions to our cause as a human effective enough that her removal would cause significant change to our success pursuing our goals?
It just seems so random to me that he'd kill Anna of all people, we were right there and he chose her instead.

>>4373688
If we learn the Sanctuary spell we can remove her Vampirism, and if we can't we could kill Anneliese to ensure Anna's complete freedom.

>>4373763
>If we learn the Sanctuary spell we can remove her Vampirism
I mean that's kinda meta.

>>4373772
Since when has that halted our actions before?

>>4373680
backing >>4373686
remind himself that Anna WANTED to be turned at some point. this isn't ideal, not in the least, but it IS convenient for her

This quest has taught me that the secret to power balance in a quest is to give every main antagonist the ability to stop time.

>>4373937
The power of unskippable cutscenes.
Truly, the bane of MC's.

>>4373784
Since uh. Right now? We're all going to try to be better from now on?

>>4373980
Quaint idea, but there's no way meta gaming will stop in a quest with an established setting.

By the way, what are the limits of Camellia's healing?
Anna wasn't completely decapitated right?

You have no choice. You can't just allow Anna to die like this. Even if it means she is going to be a vampire under the control of Anneliese, you aren't just going to be content with letting her die. Besides, Anna was thinking of becoming a vampire anyway. This can just be considered... expediting the process, even if you would've much preferred to have had Sophia turn Anna into one of the creatures of the night. There's also a part of you that wanted to turn Anna into a vampire yourself, but only after attaining the Crimson Stone and ascending to the pinnacle of vampiric power with the legendary artifact, obviously.

"You... you may turn Anna into one of your spawn. Camellia. You might want to back away from Anna's body." You order the plant girl still hunched over the body of Anna to back away from her. You don't have the time to wait about. If you don't have something done quickly, Anna won't be possible to save at all!

"Arthur! You... You can't seriously be saying that you're going to allow this... random vampire to make Anna into her slave!" Camellia sounds outraged by the idea of allowing Anna to be turned into a vampire, but what choice do you have?

"Eh? Slave? I don't want a slave, I just really need a drink." Anneliese actually looks annoyed by Camellia's accusation. You think she's actually being honest, too. What an exceptionally odd woman this vampire is.

"Do as I command you to do, Camellia. This is our only way to save Anna. I don't like it either, but I'd rather have Anna be granted a second chance than I would worry about the character of the woman who wishes to turn her." It's really a terrible shame that of all the people who could've turned Anna into a vampire, it is a woman who may very well still be an enemy after getting what she wants. Camellia backs away from Anna, though she does hesitate a little. It's pretty clear that she thinks allowing Anneliese to vampirize Anna is a mistake.

"I'm starting to think that you don't have a very high opinion of me. Maybe we really did get off on the wrong foot. I... will apologize to you for how I acted when I had first awoken, it was really quite undignified of me to act in such a way." You don't really know if her apology is sincere or not, but at the very least she's pretending to be sorry, which is enough for now at least.

"You threw a tantrum and tried to kill everyone because nobody paid any attention to you. You're surprised that I have a low opinion of you after that?" It's only because she's made an offer to save Anna's life that you aren't trying to kill her once again, but you can't really remain angry at the only chance for Anna's survival. Well, not visibly angry, at least. You'll reserve your opinion on the woman until after she's turned Anna.

Anneliese wastes no more time and picks the limp body of Anna up with one hand. You avert your gaze as she sinks her fangs into Anna's bloody neck and begins to drain her body of blood. You have no wish to look upon such a scene, as fascinating as it might be, there's something about the whole affair that seems like a personal thing that you should look at.

Though while Anna is in the process of being turned into one of the undead, your thoughts turn back to Jeste and Dario. What happened to those two? Did they start fighting again? You're pretty sure that with Camellia's help, you can deal with him for good, though you don't really want to leave Anneliese alone with Celia as well as Anna's body. Engel is unfortunately still not responding, you really want to know just what happened to the sword, but you have no idea how you would go about doing that.

>Look for Jeste and Dario in the castle with Camellia. You need to go see if Mistral is alright anyway.
>Look for Jeste and Dario alone, you have a bad feeling about trusting Anneliese with nobody around to stop her.
>Just wait outside the castle for Jeste to return. If she doesn't, then it's likely she won't be returning at all.
>Write-in..

>>4374982
>Look for Jeste and Dario in the castle with Camellia. You need to go see if Mistral is alright anyway.

We can threaten her not to lay a hand on Celia, and I don't believe she'll just turn around and leave after watching our encounter.

>>4374982
>Look for Jeste and Dario alone, you have a bad feeling about trusting Anneliese with nobody around to stop her.
Man-to-man duel, take 2.

>>4375006
Now this is just begging to let Dario get away with our HP being so low.

>>4374982
>Look for Jeste and Dario in the castle with Camellia. You need to go see if Mistral is alright anyway.
We'll need some health to patch us up. I don't think we can handle Dario right now as we are after that failed attempt clusterfuck. Just get Jeste and get out to safety

>>4374982
>Look for Jeste and Dario alone, you have a bad feeling about trusting Anneliese with nobody around to stop her.

>>4374982
>Just wait outside the castle for Jeste to return. If she doesn't, then it's likely she won't be returning at all.
Get a heal and energy boost from Camelia first though.
There's not much point in a duel to the death of you're already dead on your feet.

We are tied.

We are still tied.

>>4376510
We sure are. I'd break it, but the only option I;m considering switching to would have us still tied. Leaving Anneliese out here without Camellia just seems like the worst possible decision.

Unbelievably, we're still tied.
Ah well, Guess I'll roll for it if it isn't broken soon-ish.

Holy shit.

>>4374982
>Look for Jeste and Dario in the castle with Camellia. You need to go see if Mistral is alright anyway.

>>4374982
>Look for Jeste and Dario in the castle with Camellia. You need to go see if Mistral is alright anyway.

Do people intentionally just lock the votes so we wont get an update for the night or something? Fucking eh.

>>4376741
Nah people just vote and leave for 16 or so hours.

"Camellia. Follow me. We need to go find Jeste and the enemy Dark Lord Candidate. He slipped away from me and Jeste pursued him. He's incredibly powerful and I think I might need your help to kill him." Really, Dario's ability is a gigantic pain to deal with. Hopefully Jeste hasn't been having too much trouble fighting him. You have no doubt now as to her ability to survive now that it was revealed that that bastard Aeon was merely playing you. You're still quite glad that you didn't accept his offer though. With how malicious he acted upon the refusal of his deal, you can imagine just poorly things would've gone for you had you actually allowed him to take 'five years' off of your life. He may very well have used those five years given to him in order to imprison you in some sort of purgatory for those five years.

"But... what about the vampire... and Anna?" Camellia looks at the vampire in the midst of a strange embrace of Anna's body. A mix of disgust and sheer hatred etched on her face as she looks at the vampire. You don't know why exactly she's so angry with Anneliese though. Maybe she's directing the anger she's feeling at Aeon towards the nearest non-allied target? Honestly you have no idea. You'd expected her to be happy that Anneliese was capable of saving Anna.

"We'll just have to trust her, as much as it pains me to say it. We can't let the Dark Lord Candidate get away, and Anneliese shouldn't have any reason to betray us now." You look at Camellia. "I know that you're worried about Anna, but now is the time for action! Our enemy is in that very castle!" It might be a little careless for you to leave Anneliese with Anna and Celia without any supervision, but with the way you're currently feeling, you don't know if you would even make much of an impact on the fight. You really aren't all that confident that Camellia alone would be able to defeat the vampire either.

Right now, despite how foolish it might sound, your only option is to trust Anneliese and hope that you really did get off on the wrong foot. Pushing the thoughts of her betraying you and taking Celia and Anna with her, never to be seen again, you march back towards the castle. Hand tightly grasping Camellia's arm as you pull her along with minimal resistance.

Soon enough, you enter the castle once again, and find Mistral sleeping on the ground, she's not visibly injured, but it doesn't look like she's going to regain consciousness any time soon either. Luckily this room seems fairly safe, so you might just be able to leave her here without running into any issues. As you think things through, the entire castle is rocked by an explosion that seems to shake the place to it's very foundations! Seems like Jeste and Dario are still fighting after all, and you might just be able to assist the demon. Well, if you aren't able to directly assist her in her battle, then Camellia certainly will be able to. But the one problem you face now is... just where could the two of them have taken their battle? The shockwave from the explosion was simply too large and too loud to accurately pinpoint where it could've come from, so you're going to have to blindly choose a part of the castle to look in and hope that you find them.

>Pick one from both.
>Head back to the Throne Room, perhaps that is where they went?
>Head back into the tombs, maybe you just missed them the first time?
>Explore the bottom floor of the castle, maybe they are fighting down here?
>Ask Camellia if she has any way to find the two of them with her plant manipulating abilities.
>Write-in...
AND
>Take Mistral with you.
>Leave Mistral sleeping on the floor.
>Write-in...

>>4376946
>Head back to the Throne Room, perhaps that is where they went?
>Take Mistral with you

>>4376946
>Ask Camellia if she has any way to find the two of them with her plant manipulating abilities.
In the case that she doesn't:
>Explore the bottom floor of the castle, maybe they are fighting down here?

>Take Mistral with you.

>>4376946
backing >>4376960

>>4376960
Can we also ask Camellia to watch Anneliese through her plants too?

>>4376946
This works >>4376960

First off, you'll need to make sure that Mistral is safe. Leaving her just unattended in this entrance hall doesn't seem like the best of ideas either. While it might look safe for now, just leaving her unattended for longer than you have to just seems like it could backfire horribly. Besides, it's not like she's at all heavy. Seems that being a goddess of the wind has quite the advantage when it comes to not weighing much. You hope she's alright, there aren't any visible wounds, but you would feel much happier if she would wake up already.

As for finding your absentee ally and the enemy she is no doubt facing, perhaps Camellia might have some ability she can use to quickly find them, her ability to manipulate her plants has shown itself to be practically unlimited so far, so asking her really couldn't hurt at all. "Camellia. Can you use your plants to find two people in this castle?" You ask your ally as you scoop the unconscious girl up into your arms and sling her over your shoulder. "Oh! And actually, can't you leave something to keep an eye on Anneliese to make sure she doesn't do anything while we're not around to stop her?" At least this way you'll be able to keep an eye on Anneliese should she betray you.

"I can, just hold on for a moment, Arthur." Camellia places her hand against the tiled stone floor of the entrance hall. "I won't be able to get their exact location without the time to grow more complex plants to function as my eyes and ears, though I can create a root system that will detect nearby living creatures." Good enough, you suppose. "And as for keeping an eye on that vampire, I set up a few countermeasures against her betraying us before we left for the castle. They probably won't last for long if she does attack, but they should at least give the girl enough time to flee." Well, that's something of a weight taken off your shoulders. You really hope that Anneliese doesn't go after Celia, otherwise you'll ensure she spends the rest of her miserable life screaming in agony. You wait for a few seconds as Camellia does... whatever it is she's doing. Talking to the plants, maybe? "Alright, I think I've found them. There are two people above us moving quite quickly. I think they're on the top floor"

"Understood. Let's go, Camellia." That's all you needed to know from the Alura Une, and you quickly begin racing up the stairs once again. You aren't going to allow Jeste to get hurt, not after what just happened to Anna. When you reach the top floor of the castle, you call back to Camellia, he is obediently following you. "What way now, Camellia?" You call back to the girl rapidly following after you.

"They should be just around this next corner!" The girl is forced to shout thanks to the sprinting pace that you've taken. Knowing that you're close makes you push your body even harder though, and you manage to speed up even despite the terrible fatigue brought about by the usage of both Dominus and the Power of Destruction at the same time.

You finally round the corner and the scene is one of absolute carnage. Half of the roof is missing and dozens of rooms have had their walls blown away, leaving the top part of the castle exposed to the moonlight. Standing in the middle of the destruction however is Dario, battered, cut and bruised. Seems like for whatever reason, he has yet to heal his wounds. You can see that Jeste has been smashed through multiple stone walls, and her body is nearly motionless as it lies on the ground, only the labored breaths she takes letting you know that she's still alive at all. Dario however seems to have not noticed your arrival, and his back is turned to both you and Camellia as you enter the large destroyed section of the castle.

>Reveal yourself to Dario. Demand he fight you without using his Power and you'll respond in kind.
>Shoot Dario in the back of the head.
>Have Camellia deal with Dario for you.
>Write-in...

>>4378600
>Shoot Dario in the back of the head.

>>4378600
>Reveal yourself to Dario. Demand he fight you

>>4378600
>Shoot Dario in the back of the head.
I have reservations about all of these choices. I'm pretty positive we can't beat Dario in a fight without powers, after how he handled us last time. I'm not at all confident that shooting him will actually hurt him. I don't want to rely on Camellia. Of the three, though, shooting is probably our best chance right now. If only we still felt capable of using our powers...

>>4378600
>Shoot Dario in the back of the head.
I absolutely despise doing Dario dirty like this, but we're injured and we have no potions to heal up from. I'm just going to hope that at some point Dario decides by himself to escape, since he does that in Dawn if I remember right.

>>4378600
>Shoot Dario in the back of the head.

Well, while it might leave a bad taste in your mouth, you really have no other choice here but to take the win when it's presented to you. While you had hoped you would be able to settle things with Dario man to man, reality wasn't kind to your wishes. You don't know just how much strength he has left, and seeing as you can't exactly rely on either of your dark powers for assistances, you've got no choice but to basically just cheat.

You pull Agartha from its holster and take aim at the back of Dario's head. What a pity that things ended this way. You would've liked to have been able to prove your superiority over the man in a proper battle, but you can't complain. You don't imagine that Chaos will care how he ends up dead, just that he no longer draws breath.

You squeeze the trigger, sending a bullet towards the man, he rapidly tilts his head to the side and the bullet ends up just grazing him, leaving a brutal cut on the side of his face. "A... man just... can't get a moment to catch his breath round these parts, can he?" Dario doesn't seem to be paying attention to the new fairly horrific wound on the side of his face cause as a result of the bullet slashing a path across the side of his head, nor does he seem to care about the many other wounds inflicted upon his body. Is he out of power himself? Is that the reason behind all the wounds on his body? He turns to face you. "Oh. You again, huh? Guess that means our little truce is over, but I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly feeling up to continuing our fight right now." He takes a long look at the weapon in your hands. "And I'd say you're not feeling up to it either. You really coward enough to resort to that thing?" Dario doesn't make a move as he stares you in the eyes, your lack of a reaction as you aim the gun at him tells him all he needs to know about your thoughts on the matter, winning is more important than how you go about doing it. "I should've expected as much from somebody like you." There's disdain in his voice as he condemns you. "You're just like that other asshole, aren't ya? No sense of honor!"

Having had quite enough of being insulted by the red haired man, you fire once again with Agartha, this time firing a volley to ensure you don't miss. Though at the very moment the bullets are about to hit the man, he dissipates into flames. You curse under your breath as he disappears, but he reappears only a short distance away a few moments later, with the majority of his wounds still present. "You aren't getting away from me that easily!" You fire at the man again, though he takes cover behind a thick stone wall.

Dario throws a paltry fireball at your direction and you have no choice but to dodge it by ducking behind a wall yourself, it's of far less intensity than the attacks you saw he was capable of before, he really must be running on fumes. When you peek out of cover once again you see that Dario has made a break towards the edge of the destroyed rooms, leading to a sheer drop to the ground. "See ya later, asshole!" Dario yells back to you as you spray his general location with bullets, all of which miss the infuriating man. You race towards the wall before you feel a hand on your shoulder.

Camellia's hand prevents you from racing after the fire wielding man, though you look her in the face and the girl speaks softly "Do you... Do you mind if I just captured him for you, Arthur? I can tell that you're quite tired, and I don't want you pushing yourself like this. Just rest and let me take care of things, OK?"

>"No. I must do this by myself!" Break away from her.
>"Thank you, Camellia. Please do." Allow her to capture Dario.
>"No. He's right. If I'm going to win, I'm going to do it properly. I was... mistaken to attack like that."
>Write-in...

>>4379872
>>"No. He's right. If I'm going to win, I'm going to do it properly. I was... mistaken to attack like that."

>>4379872
>"Thank you, Camellia. Please do." Allow her to capture Dario.

This is exactly what we brought her here for.

>>4379872
>"Thank you, Camellia. Please do." Allow her to capture Dario.
We can capture him now and use our powers to kill him once we're recharged.

>>4379872
>"No. He's right. If I'm going to win, I'm going to do it properly. I was... mistaken to attack like that."

>>4379872
>"Thank you, Camellia. Please do." Allow her to capture Dario.

>>4379872
>"Thank you, Camellia. Please do." Allow her to capture Dario.
Stand before a trillion dead Draculas and ask them if honor matters.

>>4379872
>"Thank you, Camellia. Please do." Allow her to capture Dario.
Dario is right to ask Arthur how he feels about things. Does Arthur really have honor, or not?

>>4379872
>"No. He's right. If I'm going to win, I'm going to do it properly. I was... mistaken to attack like that."

>>4379876
>>4379893
>>4380880
Why do you not want to capture Dario? Explain your reasoning? Discuss?

"Thank you Camellia. Please do so." You aren't about to let Dario get away now, no matter what he might think of you, the opinion of a dead man is something that matters very little. While it's certainly not how you wanted to finish off the man, you can't really complain if he ends up dead by the end of the day. After all, so long as he ends up dead, then Chaos will likely be happy. However... "But don't kill him, alright?"

"Of course, the privilege of killing this enemy belongs to you, after all." With a wave of her hand, Camellia creates thick plant tendrils that shoot out of the castle. You don't see much of what happens next, but after a few minutes of silence and Camellia's deep concentration, a man tightly cocooned in ropelike ivy is hoisted back up to the top of the castle. "And there we have it, he was quite difficult to catch, but he was much too tired to even put up a proper fight. His flame wasn't even enough to burn my tendrils with a direct hit."

The red haired man mumbles something furiously from beneath his bindings. You really do feel like you're cheating now. First a cheap shot and then having somebody else solve things for you when you yourself were unable. While you have no issue with relying on your allies, there's a part of you that still longs to battle Dario in a fair manner, a battle between Dark Lord Candidates alone.

You decide to address your new captive "It might've been dishonorable to have fought you in such a way, but you really ought to know one thing, Dario. One incredibly important thing for people like us." You stare directly into the eyes of your bound fire wielding adversary. "Only the result matters. It doesn't really matter how you achieve your preferred result, just so long as it ends up happening. You might think of this as dishonorable, or the mindset of a cheater, but know this." You smile deeply. "Look at it this way, Dario. If I lacked sense and pragmatism like you do, I wouldn't have gotten nearly so far, but fortunately for me, and rather unfortunately for you, I don't suffer from any moral bindings like honor." The red haired man glares at you, his eyes burning daggers of rage.

You walk away from your captive enemy and look at Camellia, who is staring at her handiwork, a large smug grin on her face as Dario tries desperately to escape but simply cannot. "So this is the one who gave that demon so much trouble? I really did expect a greater challenge from him." You're sure she would've got one too, if Dario wasn't already in such a poor state. "But what do you want me to do now? You want to kill him, don't you?"

>"That's right, but I'm going to wait for my power to recharge before killing him."
>"Actually, seeing as you did such a good job catching him, why don't you kill him?"
>"Remove the binding keeping him from speaking, I should at least hear his last words."
>Write-in...

>>4380912
>"That's right, but I'm going to wait for my power to recharge before killing him."
After a villain monologue like that, we have to give him the chance to escape.

>>4380912
>"Actually, seeing as you did such a good job catching him, why don't you kill him?"

>>4380915
We're here to make sure he dies you know, not act like a dummy.

>>4380912
>>"Actually, seeing as you did such a good job catching him, why don't you kill him?"

She has some pent up frustration at getting bisected like a common school frog I'm sure she'd like to vent.

>>4380912
>"Remove the binding keeping him from speaking, I should at least hear his last words."

>>4380915
You want Dario to escape? Why? Won't he hold a grudge? Should we even finish Dario right here? It feels too easy. That honor comment of his got to me.

>>4381388
That was the exact point of Dario's comment, to get Arthur to question whether or not to kill him.

>>4380930
>>4381388
Hey, you can use whatever rationale you want. I'm just voting for what seems like it'd make for a fun and narratively satisfying scene.

>>4381503
Why do you feel that not killing the guy who's been on our target list for months is narratively satisfying?

>>4381508
Because that speech we just made was cliche as fuck, and the most entertaining way for the scenario to play out would be to keep running with the cliche by getting overconfident and assuming we can hold him until our powers recharge, inadvertently giving him the chance to get away. I'm not suggesting Arthur should decide to let him go; he's still trying to kill Dario.

>>4381510
So basically you're suggesting having Arthur act dumb for no other reason than to fulfill a cliche.

>>4381512
Well, if you want to look at it that way, sure. I think having continued drama and tension with a major character who can come back and be a threat at a later date makes for a more interesting quest than just having one of our subordinates crush him. We want to keep the quest entertaining over time, not just make whatever decision seems most pragmatic in the moment. Besides, it's not really satisfying either to Arthur as a character (as seen in his monologue just now) or to me as a reader to just hand the whole thing over to Camellia like a parasitic boss. Kind of makes Arthur seem pathetic.
Plus, there's always the chance we might actually get to recharge our powers and kill him ourself, which would certainly be the best outcome.

Basically what I'm saying is, we can save humorless pragmatism for real life. This is a quest, a consequence-free narrative that exists to be enjoyed. Have some fun with it instead of trying to be optimal all the time, you know?

>>4381516
>>4381517
The entire reasoning for coming here was to finally get rid of Dario.
There are still 3 other DLC's to kill, and the entire Dorin organization as well.
Personally, I'd like Arthur to be a competent Castlevania villain, and the type of behavioiur you're promoting is almost directly counter to that.
Going on a further prolonged chase with Dario after cursing our own foolishness just isn't the type of thing I want to see, especially when it can be avoided by one simple choice.

>>4380912
>>"That's right, but I'm going to wait for my power to recharge before killing him."

>>4380912
>>"That's right, but I'm going to wait for my power to recharge before killing him."

>>4381510
>I used the cliche to continue the cliche
Madman.

>>4380912
>"That's right, but I'm going to wait for my power to recharge before killing him."
Ensure he is wiped from reality

>>4381821
But we just need to make sure he dies, and he's taking damage from normal attacks now.
I'm also fairly certain he will regain his own powers before we do, so he will definitely have a high chance of escape unless we ask Camellia to heavily drug him and watch him for a whole day.

"That's right, Camellia. But I'm going to wait for my power to finish recharging before I finish him off. It wouldn't feel right allowing him to be killed by another, and I wish to rid myself of him with my own strength." It sounds a little hypocritical, to say you want to do things in a manner that only uses your own power, but also relying on Camellia's abilities to actually take the man prisoner for long enough so that you can actually do such a thing.

Then again, you wouldn't be having these problems at all if Dario didn't try to flee like a coward. For all his speak of honor, he was quite quick to turn tail and run instead of facing death like a man. Now he faces death like a coward prisoner.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Arthur?" Camellia questions you. "Why not just get rid of him now? It would surely make more sense to just dispose of him right away, wouldn't it?" She does raise a good point, but you're already feeling bad enough about how this fight happened anyway. It's strange, but you really did want to fight Dario at your strongest and match him attack for attack, to completely prove your superiority over the lesser candidate. So at the very least you'll erase him with your own power, not relying on a tool created by somebody else or the strength of your allies for the execution of your enemy.

"Maybe not, but this is the only way I can accept winning like this. If I can't even kill him with my own power, then what sort of a Dark Lord could I be? No. It's better this way." If you at least killed him with your own strength, that would make this victory sting a little less. In a way, despite the not insignificant wish you hold to see Dario die for your own ascension to the throne of the Dark Lord, you feel he deserves better than to just be executed like a dog. To do something like that to him would in a way spit on the title of Dark Lord Candidate.

Camellia doesn't really seem that bothered after her initial reaction though, seems like she's prepared to accept whatever choice you make in this matter. "Well, if that's how you want to go about things, that's fine by me. I won't be allowing him to escape from me, after all. How long do you think It'll be before you've recovered?" It's good that Camellia is confident in her own abilities, at least.

"A few hours, maybe? Whatever the case, it shouldn't be too long till I've recovered, I hope." As you talk with Camellia, you pick up the unconscious Jeste, who really has just been knocked out, thankfully, and sling her over the shoulder opposite to Mistral. "But for now, let's get out of here and check on Anneliese. I don't really trust her at all, and every moment that passes is a moment that she could use to betray us, if she hasn't already done so." You really hope that she hasn't done anything to Celia, and really is going to keep her word about Anna.

With the idea of Anneliese betraying you plaguing you, you quickly hurry back downstairs. The journey down is thankfully one that feels far shorter than looking for Jeste and Dario in the first place. You soon find yourself leaving the castle once again, stepping out into the moonlit night with your injured allies as well as your bound captive.

Thankfully, Anneliese is waiting patiently for you, though Anna's body is still lifelessly resting on the floor, it must take some time for the process of her becoming a vampire to be completed, but still, you're actually kind of shocked that Anneliese kept her word. You're about to greet her happily for her unexpected lack of a betrayal until she turns towards you and focuses on the bound Dario, a terrible grin appearing on her face as she does. "Ha! So you return successful." Her eyes then switch to you, with a cold glare replacing grinning expression. "I've taken an interest in him though, so I must ask you hand him over to me." The woman in no uncertain terms demands you surrender your prisoner to her.

"Pardon?" Camellia however can't believe what it is she's hearing, and demands the vampire explain herself.

"It's quite simple. You're going to give me that man you've taken prisoner, or your friend will belong to me for the rest of her undead life. I don't enjoy Machiavellian trickery such as this, but I dislike not getting what I want more." Wait, so is she just betraying you on a whim? Damn it! "I won't kill you now, if you refuse, but I doubt that you'll ever see your friend again, if you should refuse me here." You can hear the loud grinding of teeth coming from next to you, as Camellia stares at Anneliese with pure hatred.

>Accept her conditions. Give Dario to her.
>Tell her that you won't accept those conditions.
>Tell Camellia to attack her.
>Write-in...

>>4382239
>>Accept her conditions. Give Dario to her.
>>Write-in...
But, we'll give him to her after Anna wakes up and she frees her from the vampire control shit.

>>4382239
>Tell her that you won't accept those conditions.
Wow, instant repercussions for not following through on our goal.
Alchemist dude has a vial of her blood, and we can hunt her down with other magical means if she decides to follow through on her threat of disappearing.

>>4382239
>Tell her that you won't accept those conditions.
Shame to lose best girl this way, but you've got to take your lumps. I'm sure we'll meet her again under suitably dramatic circumstances.

>>4382239
>>Tell her that you won't accept those conditions.
She's just going to sucker punch us, take Dario and Anna and fuck off. And I really, really want this anguish. Such foolishness.

>>4382236
>you're already feeling bad enough about how this fight happened anyway. It's strange, but you really did want to fight Dario at your strongest and match him attack for attack, to completely prove your superiority over the lesser candidate. So at the very least you'll erase him with your own power, not relying on a tool created by somebody else or the strength of your allies for the execution of your enemy.
>If you at least killed him with your own strength, that would make this victory sting a little less. In a way, despite the not insignificant wish you hold to see Dario die for your own ascension to the throne of the Dark Lord, you feel he deserves better than to just be executed like a dog. To do something like that to him would in a way spit on the title of Dark Lord Candidate.
Glad you put this in to reflect the thread anons' bad feelings on the matter. Arthur feeling bad about this topic feels in-character to me.
>"I don't enjoy Machiavellian trickery such as this, but I dislike not getting what I want more."
FUCK THIS CUNT
WHY THE FUCK DID WHATIS KEEP DROPPING THAT SHE'S SUPER STRONG IF ARTHUR AND DARIO MANAGED TO KICK HER ASS EASILY TOGETHER???? FUCK!

>>4382239
>Tell her that you won't accept those conditions.
>"You're despicable. Why is absolutely everybody so happy to betray a man open to helping them, at the drop of a hat?"

>>4382239
>Tell her that you won't accept those conditions.
You will regret it sooner or later, we will have our revenge.

>>4382506
>WHY THE FUCK DID WHATIS KEEP DROPPING THAT SHE'S SUPER STRONG IF ARTHUR AND DARIO MANAGED TO KICK HER ASS EASILY TOGETHER???? FUCK!
Because honestly, it felt like she was underestimating us. Also, we're severely exhausted right now and it took Arthur and Dario working together at full blast to drive her off the first time.
Just let her have Dario and fuck off.

>>4382745
I for one think giving up a dark lord candidate to someone with clear nefarious purposes is retardation of the Nth degree. And I am an authority on retardation so take my word for it.

We don't need some weird magical fuckery from Ye Olden Days to yoink his candidacy or turn him into a giant Dracu-battery for this chick.

If she just takes Anna and fucks off that's a win for us. We can always find her later. But if she takes Dario and turns him into some sorta magical necklace rock to give herself super mega fire powers and extra magical reserves then we'd be absolutely turbofucked if she found us again.

We still don't know what happens if a DLC actually dies yet. So I don't want to give her the option of killing Dario.

>>4382755
There's one option there you seem to be forgetting though, that would fit in with her personality.
>She takes both of them and fucks off.
Like seriously, Devil Forgemasters are said to be as strong as Death in canon and she's a vampire on top of that. We are literally turbofucked right now if she feels like it.

I'd rather hedge my bets, keep Anna and let her have Dario then bust and lose it all.

>>4382766
Even if that does end up happening (which I doubt) I say it's better to stand like a man and lose everything with a stiff upper lip than to let this bitch break our spirit and cave to her demands. Think about the long term consequences for Arthur's character if we give in here. We need to refuse her offer for the same reason we refused Aeon's; letting ourself be threatened by someone like this is unbecoming of the future dark lord.

>>4382773
>I say it's better to stand like a man and lose everything with a stiff upper lip than to let this bitch break our spirit and cave to her demands.
The battle cry of a loser. It's very important to know when to take a small loss, especially when you hold none of the cards.

>Think about the long term consequences for Arthur's character if we give in here.
Arthur's character will be fine. The man plays poker, he should literally be recognizing what I'm saying.

>>4382790
This is a hostage situation, not poker. The best way to make a hostage situation worse for yourself is to let on to the other person that you value the hostage more than whatever it is that you're asking for. That just confirms their power in the situation. There's no simple answer to this, but it's obviously better here to tell her she can take Anna if she wants, but we'll under no circumstances hand over Dario.

>>4382796
She already knows that, seeing as we'd let someone who was our enemy a few minutes ago turn her into a vampire just to save her life.
We literally hold none of the cards here, have none of the power and no place to negotiate from.

>but it's obviously better here to tell her she can take Anna if she wants
Yes, this will go well. I'm sure Camellia will be thrilled with this.

>>4382766
I did say that when I voted though.

Doesn't matter. If she's strong enough to just take them from us our answer is irrelevant to anything other than Arthur's mindset. If she could take them both she would no matter what. Because why wouldn't she?

Unless of course letting us keep Anna only further serves her in some way. Like a spy, willing or no.

Keeping Anna right now is a liability since she's a thrall. Stop playing into her hands. I keep saying this mang.

>>4382821
Think about this from her perspective for a second. Why is she making us this offer? If she believed we held none of the cards, she wouldn't be offering a trade. She's using Anna against us because to her, our power is a wildcard. Sometimes we're weak enough to be dealt with, sometimes we can hack her arm off at will, and she doesn't seem to have a solid understanding of our capabilities. Hence the hostage situation. You may think we hold no cards, but it's evident from her behavior that she doesn't believe the same. It's what she thinks that matters.

>>4382239
What >>4382241 said: she can have Dario once Anna recovers and is rid of any external vampiric influence.

"I'm not going to accept those conditions at all. I'm going to keep my prisoner, and you're going to relinquish Anna to me, just as we agreed." You scowl at the vampire. This betrayal of trust won't go unpunished

"We agreed no such thing. You are aware? I merely saw an opportunity to feed and also to offer you an olive branch, but if you really want to act in such a way, then I could always just take both of them."

"I don't think so." Camellia steps forward and glares at the vampire. "I'll have no problem crushing a vampire like yourself if you try to cross us."

Anneliese laughs madly at Camellia's threat. "Oh my dear me. Do you really believe I am simply an ordinary vampire? That I could not crush you and the boy you so dutifully wish to protect with the greatest of ease?" She stares directly at you. "When last we fought I was not only held back from a near complete lack of sustenance, but I also was testing you and the other boy. Of course, you caught me off guard back then, but then you so foolishly allowed me to sate my appetite for blood on that dying girl. So now I'm at the very peak of my power. Not that I need it to deal with the likes of you two." She smiles dangerously.

"Do you have any idea who it is you are talking to?!" Camellia angrily shouts at the vampire. Her dedication to you is really quite admirable, you should probably reward her for this continued devotion to you and your cause at some point.

"I don't really care. All I know is that there are two humans in front of me with an unreasonably high concentration of darkness clinging to them. I couldn't care less about why that is. But if you are truly going to deny my request, then I suppose I have no choice." The vampire turns to the body of Anna. "You can get up now, Anna. I have a task for you." The lifeless body gets up immediately, revealing itself to not be quite as lifeless as you had first imagined, though Anna's expression is a vacant one, her eyes not appearing to truly comprehend the world around her.

"You wouldn't." Your voice goes as cold as ice as you realize just what it is that Anneliese is going to do next, yet you are powerless to stop it, even in your realization.

"Kill the plant and bring the two men back to me alive." Her words hit you with the force of a hammer. How... How dare she...? To turn even your closest ally into an enemy? This... This cannot be allowed to stand. You will not accept this. You will not!

"Yes." The voice that responds to the vampire is indisputably Anna's own, but there's no emotion or personality to the response, just the cold emotionless tone of acceptance. You fear that Anna's own will might have been done away with entirely, replaced by this unthinking automaton of a thrall for the rest of her existence. Would Anneliese really be so cruel as to do something like that? To have betrayed you regardless of whether you gave her what she wanted or not?

You don't get too long to think about things before your recently revived ally leaps towards you, you get yourself into a combat posture as you prepare to dodge her attack, but instead, vines wrap around Anna and slam her into the ground with considerable force. "You... You vampire bitch. I'll make you suffer for this!" She begins to run towards Anneliese only for Anna to appear in front of her, her previous prison of vines having rotted away into nothingness.

Camellia barely has time to react before Anna thrusts her arm towards her with deadly accuracy, poised to pierce right through her chest. It's all she can do to swerve to avoid the blow, and even then she still gets a nasty cut across her chest despite her best efforts to dodge the strike. "Can you do it? Can you kill your own friend?" The vampire taunts the Alura Une from afar. You simply stand on the sidelines. This is a battle that you are unable to interfere in. If only you weren't so... powerless, then you would be able to strike back against all this. That vampire... You without a doubt despise her more than you despise Alucard, or even Aeon. At least those two were direct in their opposition to you and your goals. This woman has stabbed you in the back for unclear purposes, and even worse, she's forcing your own ally to do her bidding. You know that if Anna is still in there somewhere that she must be screaming in futility at the injustice of it all.

You can tell that Camellia is only fighting defensively against Anna, not allowing herself to use her more lethal attacks against the puppet that Anneliese has turned Anna into. Anneliese meanwhile looks on with disinterest in her eyes. "I really don't want to have to do this, you know. All I wanted was for you to hand that man over to me. In fact, I'm really quite generous. I'll even give you your friend back and leave you in peace now, if you simply give me what I want."

>You have no choice but to accept her offer. Take it, with the knowledge that one day you will have you revenge.
>Deny her offer. You'll never trust this woman. Not after what she has already done.
>Give in to the hatred building within you. Let the darkness consume you. Punish her. Wound her. Ḑ̣͈̙̦ȩ̝̘͉̪̺̳͡s̶̮̙͍͉̙̰͜t̞͓͠r͔̫̭̳͢͜͡o̵̬̙̺͔͈y̷̼̹̰ ̤̠̯͙̮h͇̩̕e̵̥̦̺̤͕̝̮r̨̺̗̣̟̞ͅ.̥̰̱̹
>Write-in...

>>4383147
Tough call between just denying her offer and seeing how bad things get or letting the PoD get another foot in the door of our spirit. I have to think on this one for a bit.

>>4383147
>>You have no choice but to accept her offer. Take it, with the knowledge that one day you will have you revenge.
>>Write-in...
We will give her Dario once she removes Anna's thralldom entirely. No puppet shit, no emotionless shit.
This way we both save face. Who gives a fuck about Dario.

>"YAMERO!"
> >>4383157's one-for-one
>Restrain yourself as much as you possibly can until Anneliese and Dario are both gone, leaving you with only Anna, Camellia, unresponsive Engel, unconscious Mistral, and yourself
Then I dunno. Have an anguished done-with-this-shit cry up to the dark blue night sky above? Unburden a little to Camellia and Anna? Keep holding it in until everybody is together?

>>4383147
>>Write-in...
>Just kill Dario.
bruh

>>4383147
>>4383196
This.
Seriously.

>>4383196
>>4383212
>thinking you can outspeed a non-starving vampire

>>4383196
+1
Regain control of the situation.

>>4383196
>>4383212
Again, she is a full sated vampire devil forgemaster. What makes you think we'll even get the chance to kill him?

>>4383214
>Regain control of the situation.
We were never in control of the situation.

>>4383213
>>4383222
I'd rather get my dick blown off than roll over and accept defeat. "But anon, if she slaps our shit in we lose" wrong! You only lose when you give up. No matter how many times you are knocked down if you keep getting back up eventually you will win.

There can be no surrender. No capitulation. Only victory.

Also dude she's already proven to be untrustworthy as all fuck. Why in the name of Dracula's dick would you try to parley with her? I think it's kind of silly.

But I also didn't want Annelise to vamp her for this exact fucking reason so hey.

>>4383147
>You have no choice but to accept her offer. Take it, with the knowledge that one day you will have you revenge.

>>4383227
>No matter how many times you are knocked down if you keep getting back up eventually you will win.
Until she gets bored the second or third time, and cuts off your legs. This is literally a Frieza tier tantrum, where we're spiting her just because we can when she has every ability to kill us.

Hell, with the way she keeps trying to parlay even after we've spit in her face, it feels like WhatIs trying to give us a way out without us dying or losing anyone.

>>4383147
never fucking mind, scrap my post in >>4383169
I'm going all in on >>4383196 instead. WE'RE the one holding Dario. WE'RE the Dark Lord Candidate. Breaks this charade wide open and claim our rightful power.

>>4383234
Just a lurker who just finished finals.

>>4383237
You don't need legs to win you spineless churl. Never give up. Even death cannot stop the determined.

>>4383243
You have to actually be able to back up your dick swinging, you fucking moron.

>Even death cannot stop the determined.
Yes, let's walk right into what is probably Aeon's plan. Keep us from allying with the Devil Forgemaster and end up getting killed and getting our allies killed.

>>4383253
Sorry, I don't speak coward. And I also don't put trust in people who have literally ten seconds prior stabbed me in the back.

You can sign your life away if you want to, I'll be taking hold of life even if it gets my atoms shredded.

It also doesn't matter what Aeon's plans are. He can time travel. He will always be taking a leading role in the plotting department. So don't fucking worry about it.

>>4383261
>Sorry, I don't speak coward.
You obviously don't speak common sense either. What's it like stumbling around life without any internal thought or reason like an animal?

>>4383262
A lot better than rolling over like a good doggy and falling for the same tricks every single time. Funny that a perceived fool attempted to avoid this scenario yet the self-proclaimed intelligent one put us in this very situation.

It's almost as if not having any resolve or backbone leads to terrible outcomes. I will die on this hill, sir. And my corpse will ever remain to spite you.

>>4383147
Yeah, alright, I guess I'll have to go for >>4383196. Muster up all the Destructive power we have left and put an end to Dario before she can.

>>4383147
>cutting your nose off to spite your face
This is not the type of quest where being retarded gets you anywhere good.

>Give in to the hatred building within you. Let the darkness consume you. Punish her. Wound her. Ḑ̣͈̙̦ȩ̝̘͉̪̺̳͡s̶̮̙͍͉̙̰͜t̞͓͠r͔̫̭̳͢͜͡o̵̬̙̺͔͈y̷̼̹̰ ̤̠̯͙̮h͇̩̕e̵̥̦̺̤͕̝̮r̨̺̗̣̟̞ͅ.̥̰̱̹
While not ideal, going berserk would probably be the method to get both Dario and Anna.

>>4383272
>the plan the entire time was to kill dario
>not trying to kill him and instead going full schizo
I guess I am retarded.

>>4383274
Could've "don't fucking die" was a part of that plan, somewhere...

Granted, she could also just take us as a replacement for whatever she has planned and if she enthralls us it's all over.

>>4383266
>Funny that a perceived fool attempted to avoid this scenario yet the self-proclaimed intelligent one put us in this very situation.
I'd say you were the one who voted to put us in this situation, by spitting in her face when she asked for Dario.

>It's almost as if not having any resolve or backbone leads to terrible outcomes.
So I mean, what do you call this? If this is your successful outcome, you really are a fucking retard.

>>4383277
>don't die
>when some people want to become a vampire
The game was rigged from the start.

>>4383284
You're the guy who voted to let Annelise turn her. Which if you'd've just let her die instead this couldn't happen. Well if people voted to let Dario live after his capture she may still attempt to kick the shit out of us but it wouldn't be in such a horribly unbalanced way as this. Ultimately by caving in out of grief you've doomed us.

>inb4 shoulda just acquiesced to aeons demands
And who knows how that would have fucked us over. Letting Anna die was the right play all along.

>>4383289
I think the real fuckup was not killing Dario.
If he was dead Anneliese wouldve only taken an interest in us, for better or worse.

>>4383289
>unlife requires you to die
You're not gonna pilpul me out of this one.

>>4383296
The fuck-up was trying to melee him instead of oneshotting the space around him.

>>4383296
>>4383303
Seriously, bunch of poor decisions this entire thread.

>>4383303
>You're not gonna pilpul me out of this one.
It's totally in the name though. I mean we don't call people who are braindead unliving. They're still alive. Technically. So it wouldn't be fair to call the guy who is technically dead alive.

Unless we all agree to start calling braindead people members of the unlife club. I can work with that.

>>4383222
Now, didn't Sophia have to drain 1000 people to become sated? Or at least "The peak of her power"?
Anneliese could be bluffing here, if shes that much more powerful than Sophia it would follow that her appetite would mirror that power wouldn't it?

>>4383271
We do still have the holy knife, we could just make like were going to release Dario to her then stab him with it.
If we use the PoD not only do we have a high chance of fainting, Anneliese would probably interfere before we could finish an attack with it.

>>4383591
Actually, we could also try to destroy Dario's life-force like we did with the corpseweeds.

You look at the vampire. The woman so certain that she's going to get her own way. That you'll just roll over and give her exactly what she wants, that you'll just surrender to this woman who is forcing a dear friend of yours to fight you against her own will. Stripped of the ability to make her own decisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaZJUvgF2bk

Does she really think that you would ever have said yes to such a request? No. You won't just deny her. You'll prevent her from ever being able to get her own way! "Your request..." You look into the vampires eyes, she's so certain that she's going to get her own way. It infuriates you! You begin to draw upon the Power of Destruction, heedless of the consequences that it might bring to you for using the power in your exhausted state. "You wish for me to hand this man over to you, correct?"

"That's right. Really, I don't think I'm asking too much. You were probably just going to kill him anyway, no?" The vampire correctly guesses your intentions, but what she doesn't guess is that you still intend to make good on those intentions. "I think I'm offering you quite a deal here. You get your friend back, and I get what I want. Really, I don't think a fairer deal is out there. So please, this is the last time I'm going to ask you. Hand over your prisoner, or suffer the consequences."

"Consequences...?" You repeat after the vampire. "I think you've made one fatal error, Miss Anneleise." You're finally ready, you've finally managed to gather enough of the Power of Destruction to make an attack with, your body is screaming in pain, but you just grin and bear it. "You're speaking as if you've already won. That all that's left is for you to claim your prize, and that all I can do is delay you from taking it." You smile maniacally at the woman as you raise a hand to your head, holding back your hair and leaning your head up. "But you're wrong! You're not going to get what you want!" You thrust your hand out towards the bound Dario, you're much too far away to actually physically reach him, but that's of no matter to you. You have the destructive energy fire towards the Dark Lord Candidate like a ray of death. Leaving a tennis ball sized hole directly in the man's heart.

The ray of death dissipates not a moment after being fired, you aren't sure just how far it went, but it hardly matters. There's simply no way Dario could survive that attack, and that's the only thing you care about at this point. The world starts to get blurry as you struggle to remain standing. You turn back towards Anneleise and manage a weak smile. "Looks like... You don't get what you want, doesn't it?" You follow it up with a laugh, but the laugh is choked off by iron fingers grasping your throat and constricting tightly.

You look down at the woman grasping you with ease, lifting you off the floor by your throat. "Quite. So I suppose you'll work just as well. First though, you've given me no choice but to slaughter your friends. You just..." She slams you into the ground with enough force to snap your back in two, even with the blessing and armor you've got protecting you. "...Stay laying right there." the agony is unbearable, and you have no idea how you stay conscious as you look up at the sky.

The sound of battle echoes around you, Camellia's screams of fury getting more and more desperate as the fight continues on. You can't even turn to see just what is happening, but you can tell that she probably isn't winning by her screams. You start to fade in and out of consciousness, finally managing to maintain your awareness for more than a few seconds, this time though, you notice the presence of something in the sky above you. A gigantic rock, blazing like an inferno plummeting slowly towards the ground.

"Oh my, you're still conscious, are you?" You hear a voice from above, but you soon realize that you can't focus at all, the pain is still far too great for that. "Well, allow me to congratulate you on one thing. Your ally. She really was quite strong. Far stronger than an Alura Une like herself had any right to be. It really is such a shame. I had hoped we could've been allies, I'm sure that Lord Dracula would've rewarded you quite well if you aided me in resurrecting him." Wait. What? What did she just... say? You don't get to ask, as moments after that, a sharp impact to the side of your skull blasts your consciousness away and everything goes black.

Game Over...?

>>4384466
Hello darkness, my old friend

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>>4384466

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>>4384466
That went as well as I expected.

>>4383196
Was getting caught part of your plan?