THE FINAL CONFRONTATION

[steampunkborgia]

[It's time.

Once everything has gathered, perhaps they feel as prepared as they can be under these circumstances. Behind that door lays the place where things will end. The door opens easily, giving them access to the most important place underneath Krakow.

It's a rather large chamber, carved in the rock, but on the far end it feels like someone decorated the place to give it a very mystical vibe. A polished stone staircase leads to what seems to be a very large, glowing gate. It's being assaulted by an uninterrupted beam of volatile energy. Its origin is visible: a large, imposing laser machine, where all the tubes and wires are connected to. Right beside it, there's a coffin-shaped machine, the antenna blinking intermittently. Looks like it's on! But is it doing anything right now?

And, standing there with your backs to you, are the two people who have caused you so much grief and pain during the last month and a half. They're standing some distance away from the gate. Throughout the room are a few rocks that could serve as cover, as well as a pillar or two, but do you intend to hide? Regardless, looks like your intrusion didn't go unnoticed]

You all are so noisy.

[The door opening seems to have alerted her of your presence, yup. The Lady turns around. She doesn't have her half-mask anymore. The eye that's usually under it has a summoning circle carved onto it, shining so noticeably it can be seen even from the other side of the chamber. To her hip there's a sword, and her hand goes to a weapon a couple people may be familiar with: the marshmallow gun...with modifications. That sure is the fire-spewing trombone attached onto it. It's all pretty dangerous-looking yet still ridiculous. ]

Welcome, everyone, to the secret of this world. In here--why are there cats here?

[She blinks, puzzled. A good sign! Looks like, despite everything she has done and worked on, there's still room to catch her off guard in many ways!

The Lady shakes her head]

If you're down here it means you have been snooping around, haven't you? I'm sure this isn't the only place you sneaked into. My, darlings, that's naughty of you. All you had to do was stay on the surface and do nothing, and you could have the happy ending you wanted. Now, since you have seen more than I intended, I have no more option but to kill you. You can only blame yourselves, darlings.

[The Lady glances back at the gate, pensive, for just a moment before slapping a grin on her face]

My followers call me their Lady. My priestesses their Goddess. Everyone else calls me...the Other, for...some reason. [She doesn't seem terribly fond of that moniker.] But you all can just call me Lucrezia. And this here is my servant, Rembrandt as you well know by now. [She turns to him to add:] Oh, feel free to strike fear into their hearts by undoing your current form. The charade is over.

Now, have you all grasped the truth of this project?

Comments

1/2

[dominioned]

[ As the group of survivors entered Rembrandt's expression was neutral, aside from the small smile he wore. For anyone who's talked to him over the past several weeks (more so the past two weeks in particular), it's his usual state. But something gives him pause his eyes going wide, and it takes him a second to even hear what Lucrezia says to him despite their close proximity. ]

Ah, you brought them... [ The only thing he's staring at in this room is cats now. ] Did you bring toys for them too? Well, I imagine this won't take very long.

[ He shakes his head and seems to remember there is a time and a place to be made starry eyed by felines. ]

Is that an order?

[hors_devores]

I suppose if we are here to speak truths, then it is fitting me to do so as well.

[ The chamber goes dark, all the lights being drawn into a vortex that swirls around the Lady's servant. When the light creeps back against the darkness what you see is well...a mess.

Calling him a person anymore wouldn't be fitting, monster, abomination, devil is more than accurate. Rather than a proper body what you see in front of you is a swirling mass of shadow and shapes: a serpent's head, a raven's wing, the compound eyes of a mass of flies. They undulate never staying visible for too long, all kinds of horrors surfacing and then disappearing. And from that writhing mass comes a voice you're familiar with, that grinning mouth recognizable even if the rest of him isn't. ]

My, my it's been quite some time since I've been able to stretch my legs. A pleasure to meet all of you, once again! You may still call me Rembrandt, after all, it is my name at least for now.

[reanbeans]

[ ...Dear Aidios, that sure was a demon if he's ever seen one.

But, fear's not exactly the entirety of what he's feeling right now. He's on edge, and yet, he won't run away.

They can't afford to. ]

...What was the point of hiding your real form all this time?

[hors_devores]

It's hardly fitting to walk the human world like this, isn't it? Aesthetics are important to me.

[reanbeans]

...You did seem to be the type of person who cared about things like that.

And perfection, to an extent.

[inordertobelieve]

[ Uhm. So that's... a lot. For all they'd held the theoretical knowledge that Rembrandt is a demon, it had not done anything to prepare Mikami for this sight. His world is normal. Monsters are a matter of picture books. And this...? This is.....

He steps backwards, trying hard to not show that he is, in fact, absolutely terrified.

(Also there is cat hair all over him and potentially a cat rubbing against his leg, like, don't ask. Things happened. ]

[hors_devores]

[ This is a mess, honestly. A fang smiled forms amid the rest of the mess. ]

Oh, it seems you've won over their hearts. They have good taste, naturally~.

[inordertobelieve]

[ Oh, he hates this. That smile is awful. He feels like he's going to get eaten. He's so goddamn afraid and he didn't know he could be that afraid in the first place. ]

.... I wasn't trying to.

[steampunkborgia]

No, seriously, why did you bring cats.

[Do you know how hard it is to make a villain final boss atmosphere when there are furballs walking around, pal]

[inordertobelieve]

[ Sorry, your servant is too imposing for him to spare a glance for you...


Also do not ask him, he did not want this. ]

[drydrown]

It seemed a shame to leave them. Also, I imagined it would destroy any sense of dignity you were trying to give all of this.

[Also, also: they're cute? Look at them.]

[bawcock]

[ He's seen some crazy monsters in his day but also, what. ]

That's... a look you've got going on there.

[hors_devores]

[ What indeed. ]

Aww, would you prefer I looked like something else?

[bawcock]

[ He'll think it over!! And look all around what the heck is going on here. ]

... Nah. I won't pretend it isn't weird to see, but I'll get over it. It isn't like this changes anything anyway.

[pr159]

[ Hm. Well, that's a little more intense than he expected, but honestly, it's just like a particularly messy divergence catalyst, so it's fine. ]

Well, you pull that off better than most would.

[hors_devores]

Why thank you. [ Here, he can smile with his mouth and also bare lion's teeth because he should make use of the everything he is right now. ]

[pr159]

[ Lord. He'll manage a calm smile though; he has no intention of getting on this thing's bad side at this point. ]

You're welcome.

[drydrown]

[Weeks ago Cumore wouldn't have even tried to handle this. It would have been too much for him, the fear would have been overwhelming, he would have made someone else deal with this.

But it's been a long six weeks.

Before he can really think about it too long he's got Variable Edge in his hands, snapping it down into bow form and loading it and drawing, he's only got makeshift ranged weaponry but it's coated in poison and that's just going to have to be good enough for now.

He isn't firing it just yet - taking a shot at Lucrezia seems unwise when they don't know how to operate whatever machinery she's got or what it's capable of, taking a shot at Rembrandt seems like it will be hilariously pointless but god, that doesn't mean he isn't staring at him in particular like he's tempted, and he's keeping his aim focused there. He's severely wigged out, but strangely he isn't feeling afraid - perhaps his threshold for that was surpassed a long time ago.

Either way, he is completely out of fucks to give.]

I would quite prefer that you not move, demon. I have little argument with you, but I'm not precisely interested in dealing with external threats while we play your Lady's insipid little game.

[hors_devores]

[ He laughs, the sound filling the entire chamber. ]

And I don't care what you want. But go on, go on. She's been waiting for so long and I've been waiting even longer. [ Just a statement of things really, whether they're linked to each other is another matter entirely. But he doesn't make to move anymore than he's currently doing because being a writhing mass of terrible things means you really can't stay particularly still. ]

[drydrown]

[No, the constant squirming around like a mass of eels is fine. As long as you're being ugly over there then you can be as fucking ugly as you want, buddy.]

[deadlygoals]

[ Okay, he's done information dumping so he's going to be over here checking him out. ]

It's nice to meet the real you.

[hors_devores]

Is it? You too continue to be the same as ever, Dazai.

[psychophant]

[Okay, well this sucks and he doesn't really want to talk to the bundle of what the fuck Rembrandt has decided to be today, but sure. Fine. Let's do this.]

Rembrandt. I don't believe there's much of a point of keeping it a secret anymore: tell me, just what is it the Lady is giving you in exchange for your service?

[hors_devores]

Her soul, of course. What other reason would a Devil contract with a human?

[psychophant]

Only her soul? Surely you can see that you're getting the short end of the stick here. Is is her soul, or the soul of the body she's currently in? What about her younger self? You could have bargained for so much more for all the work you've done.