Well, seeing as Shirley has been unable to at all damage it, there's no point in her even trying to assist you in fighting against the metal behemoth towering over you. The Golem appears quite imposing as it raises itself to it's full height, nearly double your own. "You two! Focus on the Director!" You aren't really sure about Edwin's combat prowess, but he must have at least some confidence in his abilities to have accompanied you at all.

The two rush past you as you stare up at the Golem, which stares back at you, ignoring Shirley and Edwin as they race past it. Good. You have it's attention, now there's just the manner of actually stopping it from crushing you and turning around to deal with your allies. Which considering it's apparent strength, may not be as easy as you would wish.

Before you can analyze your opponent any further, it springs into action, rapidly swinging downwards with it's spiked metal fist in an attempt to crush you!

Almost by instinct, your body ignoring your mind screeching for you to back away from the deadly attack, you raise your blackened right arm up to catch the crushing blow. Surprisingly, as the deadly fist connects with your open palm, you feel no pain. In fact, you don't move at all despite the power of the attack. The Golem's fist has been caught by your hand, despite all logic, all the momentum from the attack seems to have been absorbed, there isn't even a shock from the blow.

If the Golem had the physical or mental capacity to shift it's metallic facial features from anything but a terrifying snarl, you imagine it would look bewildered at the situation it has found itself in. You prevent a smirk from coming to your face, you'd look ridiculous if you tried to taunt the mindless automaton, especially as you yourself were unaware of what was going to happen.

The Golem eventually recovers from it's temporary bout of confusion and attempts to bring it's fist up again, but once more, the result is quite the surprise. As it attempts to lift it's arm, it find's itself unable to, the claws of your arm, while unable to dig into the incredibly durable metal all the way, have managed to sink themselves halfway into the metal arm of the Golem, and for all it's attempt to lift it's arm back up, You somehow keep it from moving away!

The Golem, to it's credit, quickly realizes the danger you now pose to it, and instead of once again thoughtlessly trying to lift it's arm upwards despite your black arm somehow giving you the strength to anchor it to the ground, or trying to swat you away with it's other hand, which would've been quite simple to dodge. It takes a different approach entirely. It swings it's right leg directly at you!

As the spiked metal boot of the Golem speeds towards you, you have no choice but to release it and evade the kick. Deftly avoiding the strike that could easily have reduced a good portion of your body to a fine mist. The puncture marks in the metal give you a good indication that while the Golem's body is indeed strong, it isn't quite as indestructible as Shirley believes. The supernatural sharpness of those black claws and the incredible strength of the arm itself were apparently enough to pierce through!

Now, though the Golem is off balance, it's immense weight focused entirely on one leg whilst it's other remains stuck out, almost as if the Golem is one again trying to comprehend what move it should next make. While it's speed in bursts is highly impressive, it is incredibly slow in deciding which move to make. The opportunity this has granted you, however, is not one you intend to pass up on.

Ducking under the leg of the Golem, you slash at the single leg it remains standing on with all the might you can muster with your black claws! The terrible sound of metal shearing is painful music to your ears, as the claws manage to cut four deep swathes into the leg of the Golem, ensuring that it loses it's balance!

Sure enough, the Golem attempts to readjust to the damage, but the deep cuts in the metal are simply too much for it to continue to remain standing with. A loud metallic twang reverberates through the room as the Golem's leg snaps in two, sending it toppling backwards!

With your Goliath of an opponent taken down, you are given a brief glance at the combat between Shirley, Edwin and Johannes. Edwin is in the process of calling forth some magical spell with a a strange blue glowing circle that seems to be connected to his Gauntlet, despite hovering above it entirely, physically showing no connection. Meanwhile, Shirley is throwing knives at Johannes as he disappears and is replaced by dolls in a random pattern. Appearing behind Shirley or Edwin constantly and only just getting stopped from making a fatal blow on one of his enemies by the quick actions of the others.

You can get involved in their fight just after you deal with this Golem for good. Currently, it's writhing around on it's back like some sort of helpless tortoise that cannot right itself. Approaching the thrashing Golem and dodging it's wild thrashes with the intent to use your claws to hack it's head from it's body. Ending the threat it poses once and for all.

As you raise your arm to bring it down on the golem to ensure the maximum strength behind your blow, it turns it's head towards you, eye sockets blazing with a ghostly infernal hatred. Then with a clank, it's jaw swings open, allowing you to see the inside's of what looks like some kind of terrifying furnace.

Then it strikes you just what the Golem is about to do as you see flames begin to dance within it's mouth...

>Use your black arm to defend yourself from the flames!
>Jump away from the Golem!
>Try to finish the Golem off before it can breathe it's attack at you!
>Write-in...

>Try to finish the Golem off before it can breathe it's attack at you!

>>4014479
>Try to finish the Golem off before it can breathe it's attack at you!
The arm doesn't have the surface area and jumping back would probably put us back in optimal range for its arms.

>>4014479
>Try to finish the Golem off before it can breathe it's attack at you!
Fucking die already!

>>4014479
>Try to finish the Golem off before it can breathe it's attack at you!
Here we shall either be victorious or die...

Does it think you're just going to give it the opportunity to roast you with those flames? As if! If it intends to burn you, it's got another thing coming.

Peering down into the glowing maw of the Golem, you bring your clawed hand down in a thrust, aimed directly for it's neck. You'll decapitate it before it gets the chance to begin it's attack!

Just as your clawed hand makes contact with the throat of the Golem, you see the flames have begun to billow from it's mouth, aimed directly at your face! Just as your right arm plunges into the metal of the neck, you raise your left to protect your face from the flames spreading through the air towards you before they meet their mark. the remains of your suit are quickly burned away by the torrent of flames as you guard your face.

The wave of flame spreading towards you seems to increase in intensity as you feel your claws begin to pierce the unusually tough neck further. The pain as the fire burns away the flesh on your arm is incredible, but you've become somewhat used to pain of this degree, gritting your teeth even as you feel the flesh of your arm bubble away.

And then, a puncturing sound, and the flames immediately cease their assault on your person as your right hand slices through the entire neck, cleaving clean through both sides of the incredibly tough metal at once, leaving the flame to jet forwards out into the air uselessly.

With the final blow, it seems as if the Golem simply falls apart entirely, the powerful chunks of forged metal that made up it's body separate from each other. The once mighty Iron Golem is reduced to scrap parts in front of you.

Grimacing as allow it to fall, you inspect the damage dealt to your arm, it looks far worse than it feels, oddly enough. Parts of your arm have carbonized from the flame, other parts seem to have melted in quite a visceral manner, molten flesh drips down your arm and in more than a few places, you can see exposed bone.

It's all you can do to stop yourself from retching as you examine your own ruined arm, you aren't sure by what miracle the pain you should be feeling has yet to show itself, but for the moment, one arm or no, you can still fight.

As you look to see Edwin and Shirley's fight, it's quite obvious that Johannes' has begun to turn the tables now. The two of them were already tired before they even started fighting Johannes. Edwin is clearly hanging back as he uses that gauntlet of his to shoot balls of ice towards the Director, who easily smashes them aside with his single remaining hand while dodging away from Shirley's knives as they whiz past him and embed themselves into anything in their path.

But, his back is turned to you as he holds one of the ragdolls by it's neck. It seems he has yet to realize that his Golem has been defeated and is thus no longer holding you back from joining the fight!

>Pick up a loose part of the Golem and fire it at Johannes. You're confident the strength within your remaining arm is enough
>Charge Johannes, cleave him in two whilst his back is turned!
>Observe the fight for a moment longer, try to pick the most ideal moment for an intervention!
>Write-in...

>>4018133

Way back, we managed to fire off a bullet that utterly destroyed all it went through.

>Let's do that again, firing straight at Johannes's ugly face when he doesn't expect it.

>>4018133
>Charge Johannes, cleave him in two whilst his back is turned!
Even if the first strike is unsuccessful, he probably can't carry on fighting three people when he's barely keeping up a stalemate vs two.

>>4018232
We had to separate the Power of Destruction from our body to do that, and we can't do that any more; it's all sealed up in our claw, remember?

>>4018133
>Charge Johannes, cleave him in two whilst his back is turned!

No update tonight, sadly.
I'll try to get it up earlier tomorrow though.

As you stare at Johannes' undefended back as he grasps a ragdoll by the throat, and an idea occurs. If he's so busy fighting against Shirley and Edwin, then all you have to do is get behind him and finish him off before he can react! While he might be able to regenerate his injuries, for whatever reason, it seems he's unable to heal from the lost limb you dealt him. Perhaps it is somehow preventing that potent regeneration of his? You begin to slowly creep up to him, so as to maximise the

"Right, well. I've had about enough of this. My plans have just about been ruined and toying with you, while quite amusing, I think it's about time I actually got serious." He turns to Edwin as he continues talking, a natural lull in the combat as both sides seem to be taking this as an opportunity to recover somewhat allows him to continue speaking. "And you! Edwin! After I took you and your sister in, this is how you repay me? I should've just let you die like your worthless parents did 2 decades ago."

"Shut up damn you! I don't know just what it is you want, but know that if you've laid a hand on my sister, I'll tear you to pieces!" Edwin growls, his voice seeped in rage.

Johannes chuckles for a moment, unable to hold his laughter at his statement. "Oh, your sister is fine... mostly, I promise that I haven't laid a finger on her to harm her, at least. It's really quite amazing the lengths that you two would go for each other, you were both so easy to manipulate. Ah!" He fishes the compass necklace you saw him wearing back down in the basement. "Your families notes were quite useful, you know. Very useful for creating this little trinket, you see?" You're almost in range to pounce the man as he gloats at Edwin, who's eyes widen in shock.

He turns back to Shirley now. "I suppose you've both been wondering just why you've met so little resistance in getting to me. Well, I suppose there's no harm in telling you now. You see, I was quite worried about my daughter escaping after she started showing signs of new-found resistance, so I simply... borrowed a few of the boy's notes. How convenient that with her blood, she's not only lead me straight to a Dark Lord candidate, but also to that bunker of yours!"

Shirley let's out an angry shout, but just as she's about to attack, you've made it in range to charge him without any chance for him to dodge, leaping towards him with your left arm flailing uselessly behind you, this is the end! "And, now! All that's left is to deal with the final loose ends, and my ultimate victory will become a reali-" He ends his speech abruptly in a as you bring your right arm forwards, and impale Johannes from behind, the black claws penetrating all the way through his body, certain you penetrated multiple vital organs.

"I think that's quite enough of that, Johannes." There's a sinister tone in your voice as you taunt the fatally wounded man. You pull the arm loose of his chest, viscera spraying from the wound as you do. Your victim drops the doll he was holding and collapses to his knees. You walk around to face him as he dies. "For all of your bravado and confidence, you weren't really that dangerous at all, I'm quite disappointed that I was so threatened by somebody as pathetic as you."

The grievously injured director simply looks up at you with hatred in his eyes, he looks as if he's trying to say something, but the horrible pierce wounds in his lungs prevent him from speaking. Quite ironic, in his last moments, he's unable to express himself through words.

You reach down and snatch the compass from his neck roughly, the chain snapping as you tear it away from him. So, this is what's caused you so much trouble? It should help you track down Alura too, if it's the same sort of compass as the one Edwin told you about earlier, it may be of great use to you.

You put the Compass in one of your pockets as you look down at the dying man, though he seems to be taking his time despite his mortal wounds. It wouldn't hurt to hurry him along, would it? You raise your arm to his neck, ready to decapitate your enemy once and for all. It's a shame you likely won't get half the answers you would've liked, but this man is far too dangerous to let live. There's no guarantee he really is unable to recover from the damage dealt to him, but there's a part of you that feels executing a man wholly unable to defend himself is quite unjust.

>Execute Johannes.
>Don't.
>Write-in?

>>4023310
>Execute Johannes.
"Unjust," huh? Let's be real, impaling him should've been a mortal blow anyway. If executing him is anything, it's a kindness. It's not unknown for people grievously wounded to beg for a quick death if they know a slow one is coming, after all.

>>4023346
It's more of a giving into your anger sort of scenario than it would be a mercy kill though.
Well, you'll see what happens.

>>4023370
Oh, well, then we can't have that.

>>4023310
>Don't.

>>4023310
>Don't.

Shirley's organization could use this man and we need information.

>>4023310
>Execute Johannes.
"Mad man, you don't belong in this world."

>>4023310
>>Execute Johannes.

But mom, I don't wanna be the dark lord! That guy always gets whipped and I think he's into it!

>>4023310
>Execute Johannes.
Yeah fuck this guy.
Make sure he dies.

>>4023310
>Don't.

Looking upon the form of your defeated foe, struggling to breath as he is, an odd sort of anger swells up inside of you. The shame at this man having caused you such inconvenience gives way to a fury. Hatred for this pathetic wretch surges through you as you inch your clawed hand closer and closer towards his neck.

Whatever the expression on your face is like right now, it mustn't be pleasant, as Johannes' previous look of defiant hatred for you melts away into one of fear, the words seem to flow freely from you, as you look down upon him "How does it feel, Director? For all of those mighty plans you had, yet to be laid low while you imagined yourself to be triumphant in your ultimate goal. It must be quite embarrassing, no? But don't worry, I'm not so cruel to have you live in that sorry state of yours. Goodbye, you poor excuse for immortality."

As you bring a single one of your clawed fingers up to his neck, his eyes meet your own. If he expects some sort of silent mercy plea to work on you, he's quite mistaken. There seems to be quite a lot of noise going on around you, but you tune it out. It's not important. All that matters is putting an end to all this. With just one flick of a finger, you could end everything once and for all.

It's a pity that you won't be able to interrogate him, but he's proven himself to willing to resort to trickery for that to have ever been on the table. It's only that the fear in his eyes appears perfectly genuine that you can so calmly act, there's hopelessness in those eyes. You aren't quite sure how you can recognize just how it looks which such assured accuracy, but you know that you aren't wrong.

But that's just about when things started to lose any semblance of sense. Things change, the room around you appears to turn black and you lose track of time. You blink, and without even realizing, the demon-like arm has seized ahold of Johannes by his throat and hoisted his limp body into the air! You're unaware of just when this happened, but from the way all the color has drained from Johannes' face, for a moment, you believe him to have finally expired until he makes a feeble effort to break the deadly hold that you have on him. You simply look on as the arm acts entirely on it's own. Attempting to regain a sort of control of your rogue appendage, you try exerting your will over the arm, only to be met with a strange sort of resistance as you do. The sensation of hundreds of thousands of prying eyes seeming to stare into your very soul forces you to recoil mentally, ending your attempt to regain control of the arm.

Now with a pounding headache to go with your inability to control any of your limbs, you see Johannes' body hit the ground with a thump. His head doesn't follow. Looking at the arm, Johanne's lifeless head is still seized by arm, severed completely. The revulsion at having been responsible for such a grisly death seems to give you some semblance of control over the arm as it discards the head in response to your reaction.

The single-minded focus on killing your enemy immediately disperses as the goal is accomplish, you stand above the body of Johannes Gotthelf, his neck a mangled mess of flesh. Looking around the room, for a moment, you can't spot your allies at all!

Eventually though, you do spot your allies, but the sight is not one that fills you with any sort of relief, Shirley seems to have been smashed into a wall at incredible velocity, her body slumped against a wall. The only mercy you're given is that there doesn't appear to be any sign of blood, she's merely unconscious.

Looking around the room you quickly find Edwin too, but he's been thrown through the doorway somehow. He too appears unconscious, but in addition to the force he seems to have been knocked through the doors with, there's a deep gash rending apart his chestplate.

You quickly come to the decision to help Shirley up, maybe she can shed some light on just what happened here after you defeated Johannes. But just as you're about to take a step, you collapse forwards on your face, unable to use either of your limbs to support yourself. Slamming into the floor with no way to get up, you simply lie there.
And then the pain begins.

It burns.
Your arm burns.
Your whole body burns.
The sudden wave of agony is too much to bear as you slip away into that strange dream world once more.

As you look down at yourself, you are relieved to see that the black arm has vanished, leaving your right arm with a perfectly normal appearance, thankfully. Your left also shows none of the horrible burns you sustained.

Finished with examining your body and satisfied at the lack of damage or that accursed arm, you allow your gaze to wander to your surroundings. In front of you lays an all consuming void of darkness, seemingly enticing you to embrace it and wander into the dark. But behind you is a shining gray light, but whereas the darkness seems to invite you in, the light seems to sting your skin slightly.

>Walk into the Darkness.
>Approach the gray light behind you.
>Refuse to approach either.

>>4025871
>Approach the gray light behind you.

>>4025871
>Refuse to approach either.

We're in control here, let's keep it that way. We can always meditate or something until the void goes away.

>>4025871
>Refuse to approach either.
Hmmm...
I want us to become the dark lord, but don't want to lose our agency as we seem to be. Let's remain steadfast for the moment and see if matters develop a bit more clarity.

>>4025871
>Refuse to approach either.
Fuck off Dracula.

>>4025871
>Refuse to approach either.
I'm really enjoying this "both of you fuck off i'm my own master" stance we've mostly taken for Arthur, as it's a much more interesting route than giving into the "hurr durr darklord at all costs" and "hurr durr die monster" shit.

You make a conscious choice not to embrace the invitation of the darkness, nor expose yourself to the chilling sting of the gray light. While the gray light doesn't seem to respond to your refusal to recognize it's presence, the darkness becomes a tad bit more forceful in it's efforts, as a light easily ignorable pull attempts to drag you into the darkness.

The pull isn't strong enough to feel more like a breeze, but it's clear that the darkness doesn't intend merely to entice you into it any longer, trying to take a far more direct approach to force you to within it's grasp.

But you don't recoil from the pull, as there's a part of you that knows that would bring you a step closer to the pale, unfeeling light behind you. No. You will stay here, and forge your own path. Not with the influence of either of these strange corrupting energies. You have already felt the results of that darkness gaining more influence over you, the has the exact same feel as how your arm felt while trapped within that demon's arm. You realize that not only was that dark corruption usurping control of one of your limbs, but was also stealing your power away from you to manifest itself. You can see clearly, think clearly, once again now you've found yourself in this world of dreams, and you know that embracing this corrupting influence can only lead to complete Ruin.

Turning away from the Darkness, entirely, you look towards the gray light, blinding as it is. It seems to wish to repel you, though not with the same intensity that the darkness wanted to draw you inwards. While you can somewhat recognize the feeling of the darkness, this light is... strange. The gray light doesn't really give off any sort of singular feeling. You just can't decide what feeling looking upon it gives you, while looking into the darkness was a wellspring of negative emotions, staring at the light, blinding as it is, seems only to give you a feeling of uncertainty.

But regardless of what these two colors might represent, you've already decided not to be lured into either of them. You will remain where you are, and as you are. Whatever the result of refusing to choose between the two, it doesn't matter, you already made the choice not to allow yourself to be manipulated by anything.

You stand there for a few minutes, refusing to face either the gray light or the creeping darkness. It soon becomes evident that nothing is happening at your refusal to choose between the two. Well, that doesn't matter. You're patient.

You sit on the cold floor as time passes, minutes turn to hours as you wait, stranded in your own dream, trapped between two forces that will undoubtedly try to manipulate you for their own reasons. The darkness is obviously malevolent in nature. The gray light however repulses you, not just physically, but it's very existence seems incorrect, alien, even.

After what you can only assume are hours, a familiar voice rings out, the voice of that man of shadows. "You show impressive resolve, young Bernhard. To not be tempted by the darkness or it's counterpart is a testament to your own will, perhaps you can even usurp him."

"What do you mean? Who are you talking about?" You barrage the voice with questions.

"It is too early for you to know, there are some things that you can only find for yourself. Besides, I think you've spent more than enough time here now, I have high hopes for you, young Bernhard." And with that, the presence of the voice, the darkness and the light fade away entirely.

You open your eyes, finding yourself in a dark and unfamiliar room. You're lying on a bed and your left arm seems to be bandaged with a strange material. It's pure white like a bandage ought to be, but feels strangely soft, not to mention how delicate it seems to be. Your attention quickly shifts to your right arm, back to it's normal appearance at last, you can even feel the connection to the Power of Destruction once again! But... there's something else there too...

Before you can explore the strange new sensation you can feel, there's a wordless shout of alarm from outside, but the voice itself is unfamiliar...

>Remain in the bed.
>Find the source of the shout.
>Attempt to peek through the door.
>Write-in...

>>4028062
>Find the source of the shout.
Personally my hope is that Theresia can speak now that we've slain her father, but I'm not at all certain we're that lucky. Another candidate might be robogirl.

>>4028059
I just want to say, I really enjoy this quest and appreciate you keeping up with writing it despite the relatively low vote counts.
I know how discouraging it can be, but thanks for keeping it up anyway, QM.

>>4028067
Thanks, anon. That brightened my day.

Oh, and I can say that now the Mansion Arc has mostly concluded, the big stuff can finally start happening.

I might even get to introduce the first actual vampire in the next few updates, depending on your choices!

>>4028078
>I might even get to introduce the first actual vampire
Thank god. Hopefully it's finally time to meet best girl, the sheltered vampire ojou.

>>4028067
Support, but I also think checking ourselvesd for other injuries first is a good move.

>>4028078
There's nitpicks to be made but ultimately this is one of the most entertaining quests I've seen here. Great setting, very nice protag, good fights. My only complaint used to be too much waifus but Edwin's presence makes me think that'll be less silly in the future.

>>4028062
>Find the source of the shout.
Is mute girl finally unmuted?

Keep it up, QM. You're doing well.

You can't just remain in bed, you need to find out just what that shout was. Thoughts of the dream clear away as you remember the state your allies were in just before you passed out, following this shout is probably your best bet at finding out what happened. Or at least who brought you here.

Pushing yourself off the bed and removing the blankets covering you completely, you then realize that your ruined suit jacket is gone, and your damaged dress shirt has been replaced by a similar looking one, one of the sleeves is rolled up to accommodate the bandage on your left arm, which strangely enough, you can move around quite well. Even though you were sure that with the damage dealt by the flame, it would be rendered unusable indefinitely.

Your suit pants are still unchanged, it seems they aren't damaged enough for whoever changed your shirt to have decided completely changing you was necessary.

As you get out of the bed, you briefly wonder what happened to all of the things that you were carrying in your jacket before spotting a full looking satchel on a bedside table, a quick inspection confirms the contents as belonging to you. Everything seems to be intact, with the sole exception of your mobile phone, the cracked screen has worsened to an unusable degree, chunks of glass are missing, revealing the components beneath. Strangely enough, the fruit is also missing. Sighing and slinging the satchel over your shoulder, you begin thinking who could've been responsible for nursing you back to health, or how long you've been out for. The last time you saw her, Shirley had been knocked unconscious by something, and you don't even bother to consider Edwin.

So, Theresia, then? Well, you suppose speculating on the matter won't reveal anything, the answer should lie just beyond this door. Expecting to see Theresia or one of your other allies on the other side, you step through the door. You'd call the room you just stepped into plain, but the clearly recently added decor prevents you from referring to it as such.

Vines and flowers of all sorts are plastered around every surface, in the middle of the room is a table made of branches that seems to have sprouted from the floor itself. On one end of the table sits Anna, looking distinctly uncomfortable facing the woman on the opposite end of the table, one wearing a beautiful dress of petals, Alura, who has quite obviously noticed your arrival into the room.

"Alura...?" Just what happened back in Johanne's room that led to this situation?

"Hello again, Arthur. Don't be so surprised, I did say I would be watching, didn't I? You quite obviously needed help after your useless allies were put out of commission so easily." You didn't expect her to be so literal when she said she would be watching, but you suppose there's worse things in the world than being nursed back to health by a beautiful woman, cliche as the thought is.

"It's... good to see you again, Alura." While the woman seems to have a fair opinion of you, seeing all the bones belonging to the rest of the Botany department tells you that caution might be the best approach when dealing with her. Anna obviously seems to think so, a strained smile on her face. "So, what happened after I fell unconscious?"

"Well~" She draws out the word far longer than necessary as she apparently thinks on how to phrase her response. "After you easily dealt with that Director scum and lifted him up by his scrawny neck, I sort of lost track. Something must've happened to the sprout I had watching you." Hold on, sprout? You had assumed that she had just somehow been observing you whilst remaining out of sight! "Anyway, I got kind of worried after that, so I decided to personally make sure you were alright!" She seems proud of her own decision for a moment before she takes on a more serious tone. "You weren't. That mute girl was nowhere to be seen, the useless hunter girl was still asleep, and the inventor boy was only barely conscious himself." Out of the corner of your eye, you see Anna startle slightly at the mention of Edwin.

"Edwin was?" This surprises you, But then you don't know just how the two were beaten so badly in the first place, something must've happened after you had started fighting Johannes...

As Alura goes to elaborate further about what happened, there's a loud spark of electricity from the opposite side of the room, coming from what appears to be a dome of plants and wood. "Try to ignore it, the creature in there has been like that for the past few hours, I was hoping to have somebody else to converse with, but I soon got bored of dealing with her constant attempts to attack me. I've been deciding on what to do with her while I was waiting for you to wake up."

"Creature? What do you mean?" She couldn't mean...

"That girl you freed from the containment tube, remember? But enough about her. I believe you wanted to know what happened next. Well, this Edwin, as you called him, tried to get in my way. I considered just killing him, but I held back for you." You don't really like how casually she can kill, but you suppose it's her nature, a flash of Johannes' suffocating face plagues your mind for a moment. "After he was dealt with I quickly noticed that you were in a truly terrible condition, one of your arms was horribly burned, and the other was twisted out of shape. In fact, without my aid, you might have died!" She pauses, staring at you and waiting for a response. You can't get a read on this woman at all.

You do give her the response you think she wants, however "Thanks Alura, you really saved me."

It's faint, but you notice a slight change in her eyes for a moment at being thanked. "You're very welcome," she quickly says something too quietly for even you to hear before continuing. "Now, before we get going, do you have any more questions?"

>Pick up to 2 questions
>"Hold on, we? Have you decided to come with me then? And where are we going?"
>"How did you heal my arm?"
>"Do you know what happened after you took me?"
>"Can I ask why you took Anna with you, and why she's being so... quiet?"
>"Can I see that girl you've got captured? I might be able to communicate with her."
>Write-in...

>>4029797
>Hold on, we? Have you decided to come with me then? And where are we going?"

>"Can I see that girl you've got captured? I might be able to communicate with her."

>>4029797

>"Hold on, we? Have you decided to come with me then? And where are we going?"

>"How long has it been since you've found me?"

>>4029797
>"Hold on, we? Have you decided to come with me then? And where are we going?"
Is Alura going to be our vampire contact? Didn't see that coming.
>"Can I ask why you took Anna with you, and why she's being so... quiet?"
Maybe it's not the most immediately practical question, but hey, I'm curious.
My runner up third question would be
>"Can I see that girl you've got captured? I might be able to communicate with her."

In case you were wondering, the choice between the gray light and the darkness among other things decided where you ended up.

By not picking either, you didn't move from where you passed out.
Well, up until Alura came to rescue you.

picking the Darkness would've been very very bad though.

>>4029797
>"Hold on, we? Have you decided to come with me then? And where are we going?"
Isn't THAT two questions?
>"Can I see that girl you've got captured? I might be able to communicate with her."
Give me the robogirl, plant.
As a Dark Lord Candidate, all monsters belong to us.

"Hold on just a second, we? Have you decided to come with me then?" A welcome surprise, for once. At the very least, you'll be able to keep her from killing innocent people if she comes with you. How exactly you'll convince Shirley to not try to kill Alura is a problem for another time. "And... where exactly do you intend for us to go?"

"Well, you've gotten that revenge you were after, haven't you? You killed that Director yourself, but you should have guessed by now that you're the same as me, you'll never be able to live your own life as things are."

"What are you trying to say?" True, you don't know why Johannes was after you specifically, you never got the chance to ask him. But now he's dead, it shouldn't matter, right?

"Oh, Arthur. You must have realized it by now. You aren't like the rest of the humans, that power of yours is proof of it." What is she getting at?

"What do you know about this then, Alura?" For a girl that was born yesterday, she sure is acting like a know-it-all.

"I don't quite have the full story myself yet, I was having Anna tell me about herself and her family history when I came to the conclusion that you might have an interest in what I found out." She suddenly looks deep into your eyes before she continues. "Now, just how much do you know about Dracula?"

"Dracula? You mean the vampire from the novel, what does Dracula have to do with anything?" Now it's Alura's turn to look confused, as she turns to Anna with an annoyed look on her face.

"Oh... Uhm, well, the book was created to falsify his existence, the Church attempted to hide the fact that Dracula was real by spreading purposely false information about him." Anna for the first time speaks up under Alura's gaze, clearly worried about facing some sort of punishment. But more importantly, Dracula actually existed? Where is Alura going with this? Before she can continue any further, Alura shoots her a look, and she seems to wither under it.

"Well, according to Anna here, Dracula was in truth a real vampire, and a tremendously powerful one at that. In fact, she says he was the Dark Lord, opposed to God himself. That Director let it slip that you have the capacity to become that Dark Lord too, remember? He called you a Dark Lord Candidate, you'll recall." Then, could that man in your dream world... be Dracula? None of this makes any sense! Unperturbed by your inner conflict, Alura continues her explanation. "Anna here actually belongs to a long line of Magical Researchers that have served Dracula for centuries, but twenty years ago, on August 11th 1999, there was a battle that ended in Dracula being killed once and for all, her parents fought for Dracula and they shared his fate."

That's when it sinks in, there's no way that it's all a coincidence. This talk of Dark Lords and Dracula was unnerving enough up until now. August 11th 1999 the day you were born, on the day of an unnaturally long solar eclipse, the day a baby was born two months prematurely but was perfectly healthy. There's no way this could be a coincidence. It looks like the next time you see that shadowy man in your dreams, you will have quite a few questions to ask him.

Alura notices your pale face and stops her explanation. "This must be a lot to take in, I know. I'll stop there. You wanted to know where we were going did you not?" You simply nod in response to her question. "Well, we'll be heading to Anna's home in a moment, as it stands, that hunter girl is going to finish burning the Mansion down in an attempt to locate me and then it won't be long till she goes after this outbuilding too." Hold on, shouldn't Shirley burning down the mansion have been a priority to inform you of? What about Theresia? "As she is now, I doubt even I've got the strength to defeat her. And, before you ask, the other three got out safely, the inventor boy, his sister and that other girl too. I lost track of them after my sprouts started to be burned away though."

Yet again, Alura is being overly cautious about Shirley, your friend is strong, you can tell that. But from what you've seen of her, Alura herself seems to be stronger, so why does she seem so apprehensive at the idea of actually fighting Shirley?

Once again, Anna pipes up. "That girl you were with. She's probably on strict orders to kill you if you ever became aware of what you are. Her organization is the sort to do that, trust me." The revelations have been coming one after the other. Could Shirley really be trying to do something like that?

You compose yourself, now isn't the time to get lost in thought. "So Anna's house?" You pause for a moment "Is there time to visit the Bunker I was at? I'm kind of worried about somebody there, she stopped communicating with me quite a while back." It's become increasingly more obvious that Johannes probably organized an attack of some variety on the Bunker in your absence, the lack of a human presence at the mansion in combination with his revelation that he was aware of it's location have made it almost a certainty in your mind. You can only hope that Holly is OK, you didn't know the girl all too well, but you would hate to have caused somebody helping you to have come to harm.

Alura frowns at the question, apparently having no answers. Anna takes the initiative instead, seems that the majority of what Alura has been telling you has come second hand from her anyway. "We'll have to be quick. If I'm right about how this organization deals with people with any sort of association to Dracula, then the full wrath of her organization is about to come tumbling down on us. Trust me, we don't want to be around when that happens." Her face is dead serious. It seems that Anna might have had a run in with this organization before.

"What, so I'm a fugitive now? And my own friend is going to hunt me?" You have no idea how things got this bad so suddenly. You had been working under the assumption that after you had dealt with Johannes, you would be somewhat free of all this. You need something to help you to think of something else, so before anyone can answer that particular question on your new status as a hunted man, you look toward Alura. "The girl you captured earlier, the one from the containment tube. Can I see her? I might have better luck getting her to communicate.

"As you wish, I'll create an opening for you to talk to her through, be careful Arthur. I'll kill her if she tries anything, but she is quite powerful." As you walk towards the dome, a small opening opens up allowing you to see the girl trapped within. She's completely bound in vines inside the dome, and brings her slumped head up to look at you as you approach.

"Hello again. I don't think I caught your name when I got you out of that tank, you are?" You decide to try the polite approach, from what you can tell of her character, it's not one Alura was likely to have started with.

"Who do you want me to kill?" In a tone that sounds half synthesized and half organic, a completely outlandish question is given in response to your own. Does she even understand what she was asked?

"Nobody... Right now." Your answer is simple. It's also really the only one you can give her at this point.

"Understood. I am the Artificial Lifeform designated as COLLER2. I was created along with my brother to be used as an assassin for the sake of my owner. However, as my owner has reportedly deceased, I am currently without any orders. If you would have Subspecies: Une release me from it's bindings, I would be most appreciative." You hear Alura's angry scowl from behind you.

Vote on both
>Have Coller's bindings removed.
>Refuse to free the robotic girl.
>Write-in...?
And
>Check the Bunker for Holly before heading to Anna's house.
>Immediately head for Anna's house.
>Head back towards the mansion, demand answers from Shirley.
>Write-in...

>>4031778
>Have Coller's bindings removed.
Hopefully we can step into the owner role, or at least help her find her footing.

>Immediately head for Anna's house.
We met Holly yesterday and we've spent *very* little time getting to know her. Honestly, I don't really see that much of a reason for us to be enormously concerned about her when we're in this kind of life-or-death situation.
Plus, she did get herself into this. Unlike us, Holly had the opportunity to go home a normal person.

>>4031819
>Ask Coller to state her directives, purpose, and so on. Inquire about whether or not she is capable of lying, and test it if she answers no.

>Immediately head for Anna's house.

Contacting our old allies is important but we should become strong enough to survive them first, just in case they truly do turn on us.

>>4031778
>Have Coller's bindings removed.
If she runs she runs. If she tries to attack us I'm confident Alura can deal with her.
>>Check the Bunker for Holly before heading to Anna's house.
I want to open the spooky door now.

Not going for the Bunker?
Alright.
I think I feel an Interlude coming on.

"Now, just where is that disconnected wire?" Holly spoke aloud, her own voice echoing through the empty bunker, honestly, she was having quite a lot of difficulty locating the fault in the system. This database room was a nightmare to navigate, wires strewn all over the place. It's like whoever set this place up was doing it with their eyes closed and their hands tied behind their backs. There's just no pattern to the madness.

To make matters even worse, the genius who designed this place had decided to put the server room on the second lowest. What is it with these people and ladders? Couldn't they have just installed an elevator like normal people or something? With all these delays, there's no way on earth she will get back in a reasonable time. Hopefully Arthur will understand her reasons.

She turned her thoughts to the boy. How he had suddenly appeared and saved her from those monsters was just like something from a TV show, or an anime, even. The realization that monsters and magic were both real was almost enough to convince her she was really was dreaming, but despite the events that seemed to defy reality, she knew that what she saw was no dream.

So, when she had the chance to go with Arthur and his friends to find out more about this world of magic hidden in the shadows, she had jumped on the opportunity. Besides, she wasn't stupid, she knew how these things would probably have gone otherwise. There's no way they don't have some sort of clean-up crew that would've dealt with the damage and done some sort of mind-wiping magic on her.

She didn't want to go back to living the pathetic existence she had ended up with, between struggling to pay off loans and debt and finding the truth behind things, how the world really worked, behind the shadows they'd built up to hide things? Well, there wasn't a contest at all. She'd already found so much with only a few hours of researching through their files. Monsters were a given, but the sheer quantity of types was ridiculous! Even the Yeti was in the records!

But it wasn't just monsters, there were countless examples of magic too! Rituals, incantations and magic circles alike, unfortunately, she couldn't make any sense of any of it. Almost everything was in a different language, and the parts that weren't made no sense either. It was unfortunate, but she supposed she'd just have to figure that out later.

The parts she found by far the most interesting however were the quite ridiculous clarifications made to historical events. Particularly that World War 1 wasn't actually started by Gavrilo Princip at all, but instead by somebody only referred to as the 'Niece of Dracula' who was killed in turn by a Vampire Hunter! She'd have dismissed it as nonsense and the ramblings of a lunatic conspiracy theory if not for the events of yesterday, honestly, she had half the mind to expose all this to the world. Didn't they have the right to know?

She was snapped out of her thoughts as she finally found the wire she was after, jammed into the wrong socket on the back on one of the drives. Fixing the situation finally, she sighed. She'd have to apologize to Arthur for taking so long, she walked back towards the ladder up. She wasn't looking forward to having to climb back up, but she could cope with a few long climbs in exchange for this new life.

Then, a huge explosion from the upper levels rocks the entire bunker, the lights shut off and she loses her grip on the ladder, screaming as she plummets downwards and slams her head against the cold concrete floor of the bottom level.

Blinking awake and grabbing the back of her head, she quickly gets to her feet, but is soon brought back down by a sudden pain in her ankle. It's badly twisted, she won't be getting up those stairs any time soon, and with the lights taking on a dim red shade, she can hardly see anything either.

That's when an unfamiliar voice on the floor directly above her sends terror jolting into her very soul. "Are you sure you heard something, Alex? This place seems pretty empty to me. Feels like the boss has just sent us on another pointless errand here. Why did we need to bring the whole department along for this?"

She starts to frantically crawl backwards away from the ladder, towards the nearest open door. Her chances of hiding are slim, she can only imagine these people are here to kill her, for whatever reason. "Shut up you idiot! I think I heard something moving on the floor below us."

Panicking now, she begins to move faster towards the door, ignoring the shooting pain in her ankle as she drags herself towards the next room, only for her hopes to completely sink as the room she pinned all her hopes on is a tiny box, with the only defining feature being a heavily fortified door.

Outside the room, she can see the intruders. Two men in casual clothes climb down the ladder, a strange light follows one of them, illuminating the room. As the men get to the bottom of the ladder, she can clearly see that one of them is holding an odd looking dagger, it looks like a movie prop for some ritual sacrifice!

Clambering up a wall and attempting to hide herself she notices that a portion of the wall seems to be missing, leaving a fairly large hole in the wall. Which itself seems to be hiding a button! Could this be her salvation? If she can just hide, she can survive. She won't just wait for her death, not now she's seen all this.

Reaching into the hole, she freezes, noticing one of the men come walking in, staring directly at her with a smug smirk on his face as he turns to his comrade. "What did I say? They were just hiding is all." He looks at her once again, malicious smile still spread across his face. "Sorry sweetheart, but you gotta die." Her heart sinks as she recoils at the sight of the man. Though, in that moment, the shock of seeing the man had caused her to panic, hitting the button hard.

There's a click as the door opens very partially. Her salvation was simply dangled in front of her, only to be snatched away? How painfully fitting for his whole situation. To have been shown a glimpse of a life that had meaning, only to have it be snatched away by these assailants.

The man with the dagger is mere meters away now, another step and she'll probably meet her end. Silently, she accepts her fate. There's no use begging or cowering at this stage. Life was just too cruel. She locks eyes with her assailant one last time. "Sorry about this sweetheart, but orders are orde-" The intruder is cut off as he finds his jaw is suddenly missing, the wound spurting blood all over the the place as the man's eyes widen in pained confusion.

He steps away, before another chunk of flesh seems to just... disappear, this time a chunk is taken off of his left shoulder and the culprit is somewhat visible this time, a tiny flying black shadow, only visible in the darkness from the crimson coating it.

It seems that as if on cue, hundreds of these shadowy flying creatures burst forth from the door, slamming it wide open and coalescing on the man for but an instant before dispersing. All that's left is a shallow puddle of blood on the floor.

In but a moment, a scream rings out before being cut off almost immediately, and a terrifying presence from the room compels her to look into it, within the room is a frail looking figure, wrapped in chains, blond hair reaching the floor, horribly overgrown. The two of them share a moment of silence, before the bound figure speaks, red eyes commanding absolute obedience.

"Release me."

And that's it for the interlude.

The first vampire is finally introduced.
Far earlier than expected, because I genuinely thought that you'd go for the Bunker.

It's a shame I won't be able to write the scene as I had first wanted, where you would've gone through the Bunker trying to piece together just what happened as you kept finding more pools of blood.

>>4033969
Dang. I really thought the first vampire was going to be a relative of Arthur's. I wonder whether this is a 'Prologue to Helsing' moment for Holly or she'll just end up as Blondie's new Renfield.
Is that it for tonight, or are you going to try and push through to get an update with a choice written now?

>cockblocked from the vampire chick AGAIN
It's as though you guys have sanguivoriphobia.

Also you just doomed Shirley to either becoming a thrall, or dying, after she burns the mansion down.

>>4034010
Hey, don't blame me. I voted to open that door when we first found it. Going back to the bunker now just wasn't the prudent thing to do.

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>>4033980
I'm unsure if I'll be able to get the next update out, partially because it will be a long update.
But mostly because my computer is loudly vibrating and just crashed. Multiple times in a row.
In addition to my internet intermittently cutting out.

As consolation, I will instead give you the vampire's portrait. I will warn you that it's something of a spoiler though.
Art shamelessly stolen from Yu-Gi-Oh. But both are Konami owned properties, so it's fine. It also gives me the benefit of having lots of different images for her

>the first vampire was going to be a relative of Arthur's.
Oh, you needn't worry about that. Arthur's family will likely be very relevant to the next arc. Not spoiling anything else about them though.

You would've been able to find out just what happened to Holly had you gone to the Bunker yourself. A pity.

>>4034010
One of these days you'll actually encounter one in person, I'm sure.

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>>4034048
Alternatively, this portrait for her.

>>4034048
>>4034084
I knew vampire ojou was going to be best girl.
I knew it all along!
We'll need to track her down at the first opportunity!

"So, if I were to have your bindings removed, what would you do, Coller? Run away once again?" As long as she doesn't try to attack you, you don't really care as to what the robotic girl does at this point. She deserves her freedom at least.

The girl bound in vines seems to be lost in thought, her eyes taking a glassy hue as as she thinks on the question. Eventually however, she seems to come back to reality, as her eyes once again regain the spark of life. Despite this however, she still seems hesitant to answer. "As I am currently without orders, I would seek new ones. That is all."

Interesting... "So how exactly would you get new orders, then, if you don't mind my asking? Your owner is dead, you said so yourself."

"I would seek out the nearest compatible individual to take ownership, and request orders from him." Once again, her voice doesn't betray any hint of emotion as she stares at you, she certainly doesn't seem to be lying, given her nature, you don't even know if she is capable of deceit. Whoever created this girl was needlessly cruel, even the death of her master wasn't enough to sever this need for servitude the robotic girl seems to have.

You have some doubts about letting her actually go free, but if Shirley really has gone on some sort of pyromaniacal rampage, leaving Coller here to burn would be wrong. You can only hope that whoever she decides to take these new orders from doesn't take advantage of her.

"Very well. Alura. Release Coller from her bindings." Hopefully you haven't misjudged the girl and she really will act as she has said she would.

"Are you sure? Well, alright. If that's what you want." Alura seems disinterested in topic of the robotic girl as she looks over to you, a yawn in her voice evidence of her apparent boredom. As she finishes her sentence, the vines and branches begin to recede back into the floor, the wooden floorboards seem completely untouched, despite all the plants that were growing from them and inbetween them, how curious.

The now freed girl locks eyes with you, "You have my gratitude." is about all you get from her. Now standing there unmoving, no longer bound by the vines, she still doesn't move, instead her eyes simply dart from side to side as she scans the room.

She seems to be satisfied with her efforts as she walks towards the table Alura is sitting at, while she seemed to have been paying attention to you before , it's almost as if you are invisible as she seems to focus on something behind you. From the corner of your eye, you notice Alura shift position slightly, clearly readying herself to attack. But instead of moving to attack you or Alura, Coller simply stops in front of Anna.

"Anna Morgan, as the most senior surviving member of this institute, ownership rights have been transferred to you"

"Excuse me?" Anna seems about as shocked by Coller's sudden deceleration as you are. Alura looks quite amused at the disbelief on Anna's face.

"I require new orders." In a totally deadpan voice, Coller doesn't seem to care about the clear surprise on her new owner's face. Pestering the surprised botanist for new orders.

"Fine then, I guess you can..." She stops mid sentences, she obviously hasn't the faintest idea of what to do with Coller, who looks at her expectantly. "...follow me?" Not really much of an order, but given the circumstances, you can't blame Anna for not being able to come up with anything.

Coller is silent for a few seconds as she stares directly at Anna, who shies away from her piercing gaze. "Understood. I will... follow you." The robotic girl comes the closest you've seen to emotive in that moment, her usually unexpressive voice containing what sounds like a tinge of amusement at the pointless order.

Anna is made yet more uncomfortable as the robotic girl stands directly behind her, apparently she has no idea of personal space, and Anna seems to feel too awkward about the sudden turn of events to order Coller around any further.

This diversion has lasted long enough, however, especially with time as limited as it is. "Anna, your house. How far is it from here? Can we reach it by walking or will we need to find an alternative form of travel?"

"Well, it's too far to walk, but I can drive, you know? I was just going to drive there. I should say that we can't stay for very long there anyway. A day at most. From this point, you'll have to always be on the run, at least until you can find a way to hide from them. But if you really can become the Dark Lord, I don't think they'll ever really give up until they've either got you under their control, or you're dead." Her voice barely disguises a not insignificant amount of loathing for the Dorin Organization, seems she has a history with them.

It's quite strange that the very same organization that you had apparently been recruited into by Shirley this morning will now be acting against you. Can you really be certain that this organization really are acting against you though? In the end, Caution is probably the most advisable path to take, you suppose. It is truly better to be safe than sorry. So for now, you'll have to avoid them. At least until you've got some answers as to just what all this Dark Lord Candidate stuff really means.

"But what about you, Anna? What will you do?" You feel inclined to ask the girl.

"Isn't it obvious? I have no choice but to come with you. For one Alura has 'requested' my company for the... foreseeable future." She lays a hand just above her heart as she says that, Alura shrugs with a smirk on her face. "Second off, the Dorin Organization and I have a history, I want nothing more than to see them destroyed. It's because of them my parents and almost everyone I care about are dead. Besides, even if they didn't recognise me, they'd want to track me down for questioning, and at that point it would only be a matter of time till they found my true identity. Believe me, 20 years ago, these so called heroes were quite ruthless in their dismantling of anyone and anything that might turn out to have supported Dracula." You can tell that she isn't lying, or if she is, she's very good at faking the hatred in her voice.

Seems that settles that, then. Four people on the run from this magical organization, apparently seeking your capture. You wonder whether it would be possible to take the fight to them too, but while Johannes didn't really seem all that prepared for an attack, you can only begin to wonder what sorts of people this Organization might employ against you.

The four of you leave the small building, with the sun already setting below the horizon, a few hundred meters away, you can see the mansion ablaze, a beautiful orange glow consigns the huge house into oblivion.

"This way!" Anna's command snaps you out of the stupor you found yourself in, shaking your head, you start following the girl as she leads you towards a car park. She points out an average looking red sedan. As the four of you get to the car, you find yourself in the front passenger seat next to Anna, with Alura sitting behind you, and Coller behind Anna.

"You realize if we needed to get somewhere fast, I could've handled it right?" Alura states simply, she seems mostly content to just allow things to go as they are. You recall her method of growing a huge beanstalk to get out of that pit, it's unlikely that her chosen method of travel would be at all discreet. "I don't mind experiencing new things though, so this will be fine."

Before you can respond to Alura's comment, a huge explosion of flame in the distance lights up the sky and seems to completely flatten the mansion. The explosion seemed far too large to have been a natural result of the combustion of the mansion. Could it have been Shirley then? That's quite the terrifying amount of firepower she was holding back if that is the case.

As if in response to the explosion, Anna steps on the accelerator. Sending the car speeding forwards towards the exit, quickly entering onto the open road and leaving the burning wreck of the mansion behind. This wasn't at all the conclusion you had wanted from today, you don't even know what became of Theresia after you killed her father. Hopefully, with that pitiful excuse for a man wiped out, she can live a little easier.

The ride is spent in a fairly awkward silence, Alura is looking out the window at the scenery speeding past, Coller just naturally isn't one for conversation, and Anna is focused on driving. About 30 minutes have passed just like this, with just about nothing actually happening. You're about to ask Anna just how far her house is from here, but flashing blue lights up the road make you hold your tongue. A roadblock? Damn it!

Pulling up to a stop in front of the two police cars as she reaches the roadblock, one of the four officers, a fairly portly man, walks up to the car and motions for Anna to open the window with his nightstick.

"Excuse me, Ma'am. But I'm gonna need you and your friends to get out of the car, we got reports of an arson and of a Red Sedan speeding away from the scene of the crime." This... could be bad.

>Allow Anna to do the explaining
>Try to explain things yourself (Say what?)
>Before you get out of the car, ask Alura to knock them unconscious.
>Write-in...

I also have another interlude, if you'll just give me a moment...
I'm a tad apprehensive about posting it though, as it does technically occur in the future, but it concerns events that you have no chance of changing...

On second thought, I'll hold off on posting it for just a while longer.
It introduces a very important character.

>>4036002
>Allow Anna to do the explaining
...but ask Alura to knock them out if things go pear-shaped.
I'm really hoping Anna has some alchemical means of convincing them, so we don't have to get violent. Having the police on our trail as well would be troublesome and no mistake.

>>4036002
>Allow Anna to do the explaining
I get the feeling these police officers aren't long for this world.

A tie, huh?

>>4036895
If you don't feel like they're similar enough, I can withdraw the caveat about Alura so you can start writing. She'll probably step in if things go badly either way.

>>4036002
>Allow Anna to do the explaining
I am sure that this cannot go wrong.

>>4036898
Alright then.
It's really quite disheartening to have seemingly lost all of my players.

>>4036910
>another vote in the time it takes me to post this
Of course.

>>4036910
I don't get it at all myself. It's common for quests to gradually lose people over time, but this does seem pretty striking here. With the quest going so well, I can't think what might've driven people away.
Sorry, What. I hope you take heart in knowing that those of us still here are quite enjoying your work.

>>4036924
I can only assume it was a combination of my inability to keep to a daily schedule around the holiday period in addition to the Mansion starting to feel like it was dragging on.

Which is a pity, because with all the set-up of the mansion now done, the next part of the quest is something I'm quite looking forward to getting to write.

"An arson?" Anna fakes her response to the officer's statement "I don't know anything about that, officer. Where did you say this was?" If anything, she seems to have a handle on her own emotions. Even you'd buy her innocent act of complete ignorance if you didn't know the truth about things.

"Lying to a police officer is a crime, ma'am." It seems the police officer wasn't convinced by her feigned ignorance. "This vehicle matches the description of the one vehicle fleeing the scene of the crime perfectly. Now, I'm going to ask the four of you to get out of the vehicle once again, or you will be forcibly removed."

You glance at the rear view mirror as he threatens remove the four of you to and briefly spot a dangerous glint in Alura's eyes at the implication of violence. This could easily turn far far worse than it already is. Hopefully Anna has things under control.

"Alright, officer, we're getting out, alright?" Looks like Anna has come to the conclusion that actually going along with the officer's orders is the best way to go about things. That's fine, you suppose. The four of you slowly exit the vehicle as the officer watches. Hopefully he'll just assume Coller and Alura are wearing costumes or something, Halloween is coming up after all, and an early Halloween Party isn't that unbelievable.

As you four of you organize yourselves in front of the car, the officer starts talking into his radio, but you can't make out the contents of the conversation with the person on the other end. The situation changes completely however, when the officer draws his gun and points it straight at Anna's head. "All four of you! Hands up!" Behind him, you can see the other three officers with their guns similarly pointed at the four of you.

"H-huh? W-what are you doing?" Anna's voice is panicked, it doesn't sound like she was expecting this, but she hesitantly raises her hands above her head, as do you. Alura, yawns as she also copies the gesture. She's not taking this seriously at all.

Coller however doesn't respond to the officer's command, simply choosing instead to stand next to Anna expressionlessly.

"Hey! I said hands in the air!" Once again, Coller totally ignores the order. For a second, you see the panic that was on Anna's face has been replaced by one of complete calm. The officer looks to one of his co-workers, a thin woman standing near one of the cars, and with a silent nod, he approaches Coller. He holsters his gun and grabs a set of hand-cuffs from his belt as he begins to walk towards her. He begins shouting as he approaches her, barking at her that if she makes any sudden moves for a weapon she will be shot and other such nigh-incomprehensible babble shouted in rage.

You consider warning the officer about the danger he is walking into, but quickly come to the conclusion that they either won't believe you, or will consider it a threat. Besides, he is trying to arrest the four of you for a crime you didn't commit, and you really don't have time to be distracted, every moment wasted is one you lose in evading Shirley and her Organization, .

As he reaches Coller and seizes her arm, he quickly finds her to outmatch him in strength to quite some degree, as despite his best efforts, he is unable to even budge her arm an inch. A sudden fear at the realization that something is terribly wrong seems to dawn on the officer's face as he stares into Coller's cold calculating eyes.

"I do not take orders from you. Law enforcement officer." As she softly speaks in her robotic tone, she reaches for the officer's arm with a dainty looking hand, and in a single quick motion, the police officer's forearm is twisted backwards, blood exploding from his now mangled elbow as the man screams in pain.

Gunshots ring out, and you dive to the floor, grabbing Anna as you do, hoping to avoid any stray gunshots aimed at Coller. You also manage to get a look at Alura, who is still yawning, even while watching this tremendously violent display.

The robotic girl, grabs the fat officer by the neck before launching him towards a female officer at incredible speed, throwing the man as easily as one might throw a baseball. There's a loud crunch as the flying body collides with the thin woman and the two bodies collapse to the ground. Blood pools out from under the two corpses as the other two officers continue to firing at Coller.

The officers, to their credit, are very accurate. Many of the shots actually hit her, only to simply bounce off of her in a rain of sparks. She strides towards the officers as they continue with futilely trying to put her down with bullets. She whips her arm out at high speed as she walks past one of the officers who stops in his tracks as she does, for a moment, it seems as if nothing had happened that should have caused his inaction, only for his head to topple from his shoulders and splatter against the asphalt.

Seeing this display is enough to cause the last officer to attempt to flee, however, Coller seems to have other ideas. Easily chasing down the fleeing officer, she simply touches him once on the chest, causing him to fall down, apparently dead.

Satisfied with her work, Coller walks back to you and Anna as you pick yourselves up off the asphalt. The robotic girl doesn't seem at all bothered by the one-sided shootout, nor the fact that she just slaughtered four police officers. She walks past the three of you, coming to a stop somewhere in between Anna and her door.

This is a disaster. If you weren't a fugitive before from Shirley's Organization, now you are at least guaranteed to be a fugitive from the law after that little display from Coller. Almost as if reading your mind, Anna speaks up "Well... that was unexpected." She looks towards the four bodies before shaking her head. You don't really know what she was expecting was going to happen, but you keep quiet about it. "There goes the plan to stay at my place for the night. I suppose it's time for plan B then."

"Plan B?" you echo.

The girl looks at you, determination in her eyes. "How do you feel about taking a trip to Europe?" You can see the logic behind her suggestion, widening the search net for you from one country to potentially the entire world would certainly make things simpler.

"Wait, you mean, fleeing the country?" You ask for clarification, despite already knowing full well what she's getting at. There's still a hint of trepidation in your voice at the prospect however.

She rolls her eyes in exasperation at your obvious observation. "Oh don't be so over-dramatic about this, you'll have to get used to it now that you're on the run, besides, I have a few contacts scattered around the continent. Oh, you might want to get back in the car, by the way, time is wasting. I don't know when more police are going to show up after what just happened." The girl seems impossibly calm about the whole situation, especially how little she seems to care about the deaths of those otherwise innocent police officers. In a twisted way, you suppose it was you or them, as you find yourself rationalizing the deaths.

As the two of you walk back to the car, you notice that Alura, bored of your conversation with Anna, has simply gotten back into her seat, waiting for the two of you to finish talking.

"Coller, could you please move those cars out of the way for me?" Anna gives the artificial servant her first actual orders. Coller, for her part, seems happy to oblige, springing forwards and simply punching the vehicles off of the road. Well, it's not like things could've looked stranger than they already are. You find yourself wondering just what the detective tasked with investigating this mess is going to make of it all while you climb back into the front passenger seat.

Anna starts the car once again, and after a few minutes of uninterrupted driving, begins speaking. "So, if we're going to be getting out of the country and heading to Europe, there are two options we can take. One: we go by air and sneak aboard a plane. Or two, the far safer, if slower, option: we go by sea, hiding on a ship as it sets sail for Europe. You should probably make your mind up now though, as we're about to have to make a decision when the road splits."

>You'll go by air, time is of the essence, and you don't feel like having to hide aboard a ship for over a week as it crosses the Atlantic.
>You'll go by sea, airport security is far tighter than that of a seaport, and getting spotted even once could put the four of you in danger of being located sooner.
>Allow Anna to pick, seeing as she's apparently experienced with these matters.

>>4037839
Those poor police officers. They really weren't expecting this to be the day they stepped into a Terminator film.

>>4037844
>You'll go by sea, airport security is far tighter than that of a seaport, and getting spotted even once could put the four of you in danger of being located sooner.
We can do an homage to the famous count's nautical voyage and show up on an empty ship in a storm!

>>4037844
>You'll go by sea, airport security is far tighter than that of a seaport, and getting spotted even once could put the four of you in danger of being located sooner.
I want to see how badly we can mess this up.
Let's sequence break and get to the underwater level quicker.

>>4037844
>You'll go by sea, airport security is far tighter than that of a seaport, and getting spotted even once could put the four of you in danger of being located sooner.

Not sure hoe Alura would take to high altitudes.

>You'll go by sea, airport security is far righter than that of a seaport, and the atlantis music is really good

>>4037844
>>You'll go by sea, airport security is far tighter than that of a seaport, and getting spotted even once could put the four of you in danger of being located sooner.
Plants like water, right? So what if it's salty. And she drinks blood instead? Pft, details.

"We'll go by sea then. While it might be slower, it should also be far safer for the four of us to try to board a ship than it is for us to board a plane, Airports tend to be guarded and monitored more, no?" You aren't exactly an expert on these things, but with the public eye always on airports, it stands to reason they would be the more secure of the two.

"And here I was looking forward to flying." Alura chimes in from behind you, the disappointment in her voice quite genuine. "But I understand, if you think going by boat will be safer, I won't complain." Despite seeming a little put out by your decision to take the more discreet route, she seems to accept it.

After Alura finishes expressing her mild disappointment, Anna once again begins to speak "Alright then, the port it is, we'll need to ditch the car and go on foot when we get close enough, the police will undoubtedly be looking for that car now. Oh, and before I forget. Coller, I have some orders for you." The robotic girl makes a noise of confirmation. "Some ground rules, after that little skirmish you had with those police officers, I realize that your default orders might be a little too... lethal."

"Understood. Awaiting further orders." Coller's voice sounds especially robotic as Anna gives her all sorts of additional orders, including to prioritize incapacitation of an enemy over execution and to follow the orders you give her, but she begins getting more specific with them, it's hard to believe that Anna is the same girl that seemed so flustered about the idea of owning Coller less than an hour ago. You eventually stop listening to all the new orders that Anna seems to have come up with, instead opting to look out the window as the world races past you at high speed. You turn your thoughts inwards, looking for answers or to reach that world of dreams once again, you have questions to ask that Shadowy figure, but you find yourself unable to access the world no matter how you try. How irritating.

It's not until that the car pulls to a stop that you begin to snap out of the self-imposed daze you've found yourself in. Seems that you won't be able to force things along, no matter how useful it might be right now. "Arthur, come on, there's no time to waste now!" Anna snaps you out of your thoughts completely, and you quickly take note of the other three already leaving the car and walking out into the now dark night.

Not one to be left behind, you quickly mimic their actions and leave the vehicle yourself. Seems Anna has pulled off the road and onto a small path surrounded by trees. "So, which way are we heading?" Anna seems to have a good handle on the route you will be taking as she walks towards a more densely overgrown part of the forest, carrying a torch. Following her example, you pull your own torch out from the satchel, and illuminate the rough terrain ahead of you.

"We'll be heading east through this forest, and after that, it's just a quick walk to the port, and we should be free to pick a ship as we please." Once again, she's talking with confidence that seems otherwise absent from the girl. Perhaps having Coller by her side has given her some newfound confidence? Who can say?

"You decided to take us walking through a forest and didn't even ask me to help? Anna, I'm disappointed in you." You hear Alura say in a scolding tone just as you are about to begin to walk through the dense undergrowth. Suddenly a large crash of glass breaking and metal snapping makes you turn around, only to see dozens of thick vines constricting around the car you had just used to get here. In only a few seconds of compression, you would never have been able to tell that underneath those vines was the absolutely flattened remains of a car. "There, that should stop them from being able to figure out where we went as easily. As for this route you've picked out, allow me to make things a little simpler!"

Alura twirls an arm dramatically, and as she does, the plants seem to recede away from the four of you in an orb centered on her. She then confidently strides in front of you and Anna quite quickly, the plants receding and regrowing around some strange invisible field around her. Looks like you'll have to match her pace, though she's not walking fast enough for that to end up becoming a problem. You do note a distinct look of annoyance on Anna's face at having her role as impromptu leader taken so casually.

Before long, you find yourself at the opposite end of the forest, overlooking the port from a hill. You can see a multitude of ships from here.

"Right, now all that's left is to decide how exactly we want to go about this." Anna quickly speaks up once again, now Alura is no longer leading the group on a forced march. "We can choose to either sneak aboard a cruise ship or a freighter heading across the ocean, or we can try to commandeer our own. Seeing as it's unlikely you have any experience with boats, and Alura and Coller definitely don't, I wouldn't recommend that last one"

>Sneak aboard a cruise ship.
>Sneak aboard a cargo freighter.
>Steal a ship.
>Look for somebody to smuggle you instead.
>Write-in...

>>4039930
>Sneak aboard a cruise ship.
Nothing but the best for our Dark Lord Candidate.

>>4039930
>Sneak aboard a cruise ship.
>implying we should be afraid of being spotted
>implying Shirley's organization are actually a threat
>implying we can't just have Alura or Coller dispose of anyone who sees us.
Fuck travelling in a shipping crate, we're taking the luxurious path and anyone in the way dies.

>>4039930
>Sneak aboard a cruise ship.
Ask Alura if she has any abilities that might help us take on the identity and money of some of the rich patrons during the trip. I want to steal some people's money and clothes so we can fit in on the cruise but I feel like with all these supernatural people we have there must be some way to do that other than brute force.

>>4040655
You'll get to pick your approach on the next update, don't worry.

"I think we should go for a cruise ship, it might not be the least conspicuous option, but I doubt any of us here genuinely want to be forced into hiding in unlivable conditions, even for a week or two. I don't want to be forced to sleep in a shipping container for however long the voyage takes." It might not be the most sensible choice you could make, but the idea of having to spend over a week hiding away with cargo isn't one that appeals to you at all.

"Well, alright then, you're the Dark Lord Candidate. So if that's what you think is best, I guess that's what we'll be doing. Though it's more of a risk than I would've taken" Anna's voice is clearly disapproving of the less than discreet option, but she doesn't oppose it outright. Seems that she doesn't mind you taking lead of things, looks that she places at least some weight behind the importance of this Dark Lord business herself.

A feminine laugh from behind you makes you turn to look at the source, Alura seems amused at the decision. "Prioritizing luxury over safety? Only a coward would choose to hide away like a rat when there is truly no need." On the contrary to Anna, Alura seems to be quite pleased at the decision, smiling, even. Coller meanwhile remains impassive at the decision however, making no effort to show any sort of reaction to your next course of action.

"Hey! Don't get too full of yourself just because you think that you're strong! These are the same people that took down the Dark Lord, I'll have you know!" Anna shouts at Alura now, who simply arches an eyebrow at the girl's outburst. She turns away from Alura, apparently given up on trying to convince the arrogant plant and instead turns to you "It's just... you shouldn't get overconfident just because you might be strong. Before they died, my parents told me that pride was what led to Dracula's death so many times in the past and eventually I guess it was the reason for his final death too. We'd all do well not to underestimate our enemies." It looks like she's going to continue talking, but a glance from Alura seems to stop her in her tracks.

It looks like there's something of a disagreement between how you should go about things, and while Anna does make a good argument, you still can't bring yourself to subject yourself to the awful conditions you would be working with if you did choose to stow yourself away on a cargo ship. "Enough, Anna. I've come to my decision, besides, in a few ways I think that sneaking aboard a cruise ship is quite a bit. All we need to do is to find a group of four passengers, take their passes and then we will be free to roam the ship as we please!" In theory, it's far more practical than hiding in a shipping container and hoping that nobody finds you while you have absolutely nothing to eat or drink for the span of weeks.

"Well, I think that is a wonderful idea." Alura appears more than happy by the plan to infiltrate the cruise ship, but at the same time, this plan only seems to elicit a sigh from Anna.

"Listen, while that plan might have worked if it was just us two, there's a few reasons I can point out now just why it won't work. First off, your clothing, Arthur. Your suit pants are in a terrible condition. It will arouse way too much suspicion. But two, and trust me, it's mostly two." She says no words, opting instead to look at Coller and Alura, their appearances would draw a lot of eyes onto you, it's true.

"Oh please. Is that why you're so worried about this? I don't know about the automaton here, but I'm quite capable of disguising myself as a... human." As she finishes her sentence with a tinge of disgust, her hair starts to shift in colour. The beautiful bright crimson swiftly becoming a pale blonde, and the green hue to her skin is replaced by a far more natural pale colour. "There, I changed the pygments of my body, so I don't want to hear any more complaining from you about this."

Coller meanwhile is looking at Alura with an uncharacteristically dissatisfied expression plastered all over her usual blank face. As she seems to sulk, you notice that the metallic sheen to her hair seems less visible, but that's about the only thing that seems different. It looks like Alura's ability to disguise herself is far superior to the robotic girls.

"Speaking of disguise however, the three of you still don't exactly look the part, so it must fall to me to sort things out." Alura is acting incredibly smug, her tone oozing superiority as she stares at Anna. You don't know when it happened, but Alura now has some sort of gray cloth in her grip, strange however is that the cloth seems to be growing in size quite rapidly. Before long though, it ceases to grow any further, and Alura tosses the fabric towards you. "Catch!"

You do as she says catching the thrown object out of the air, as you examine it you quickly realize that what you're holding is a near perfect replica of both the suit jacket and a new copy of the pants you were wearing earlier today. You are left quite unsure of what to say as you receive the suit. Though after a few moments to get over the sudden surprise at receiving a gift you recover. "Thank you, Alura." You finally manage. The replacement she has made for you looks and feels just as high quality as the suit that was ruined.

"It was nothing, really. You might want to go get changed into it while I deal with getting these two in a presentable state. Don't be too long, Arthur." You notice her grin evily as she looks at the other two girls. "Let's get you two looking presentable, shall we?" You hear a sadistic laugh as you walk just out of earshot in order to change into the rest of the suit behind a large tree.

It doesn't take long at all to change into the expensive looking outfit, additionally it seems to have been perfectly tailored to you, you rejoin the rest of your new companions, to be greeted by quite the sight. Coller's bizarre outfit she was wearing in the tank has been replaced by the traditional white and black garb of a maid, if she cares about the change, she's not showing it.

Anna however, is wearing something even more impractical, namely, a black frilly dress that seems to extend to the floor. It's hardly the outfit one would normally want to be wearing when engaging in skullduggery such as this, and Anna seems to agree. Her red face doing an excellent job at showing just how displeased with the outfit she is. The real question is just how the two of them got dressed into those complex looking dresses in the time it took you to change into a suit.

"I believe that shall do the trick for disguises, hmm?" Alura spots you as you get closer to the increasingly strange group you've found yourself on the run with, greeting you with a smile "How do you find the suit, Arthur? I made it to your exact sizes, you know."

"It fits perfectly, this is really quite impressive, Alura." At receiving your praise, Alura's smile seems to grow slightly wider.

She shakes her head though, and a look of seriousness takes the place of the happy smile. "My fun aside, we do need to get moving. Anna is right about one thing, underestimating this organization could very well lead to our deaths. That hunter girl you were with, Charlie or Charlotte or whatever it was. There's something about her that gives me a terrible feeling of dread, and from how the mansion ended up vaporised in the explosion, I think it's safe to say she was holding herself back from using her full power for whatever reason. Don't trust her, Arthur. Let's go." With a last comment warning you not to trust your closest friend, Alura sets off towards the port, giving you no choice but to follow her once again.

You quickly catch up to the girl, walking alongside her while Anna is humorously helped along by Coller, all whilst she mumbles how her dress is far too tight. "I should mention a few things about that suit before it slips my mind to do so, so pay attention." There's more to the suit? You wonder what she could mean by that. "The first thing you need to know is that I expect you to take good care of that suit. I don't want it to end up ruined like your last one" She laughs as you look at her. "I'm joking, of course. That suit you're wearing is far more resilient than the last one. I made sure I only used the finest material I could grow in it's creation. In fact, I don't even think that knife you're carrying could pierce it." It seems that the thought put behind the suit was far greater than you first gave her credit for, but just as you're about to thank her once again, she carries on her explanation. "That isn't to say that it's completely indestructible however, which is why it's technically alive."

"Excuse me?"

"Think of it like a... plant that you can wear. It's a rather clumsy comparison, but as long as there's a source of light, any actual damage it incurs will slowly mend itself." Alura's gift is once again increasing it's value by many times what you originally took it for.

You are just about to thank Alura once again, before you are cut off by a loud robotic voice. "We have arrived at our destination." Sure enough, you were so lost in Alura's explanation, that you hadn't realized that the journey to the port was over. You stand in front of a chainlink fence in front of a carpark, there are a few groups of people wandering around. Luckily, it seems as if there are a few people yet to board the luxury liner.

Anna turns to you, completely out of breath from having to match your pace while wearing her quite uncomfortable looking outfit. "It's your choice how you want us to go about this."

"Or you can just leave things to me." Alura suggests with a smirk.

>Look for a group of people in the car park to ambush and take their passes
>Try to find a more out of view area before trying to find a group to rob.
>Allow Alura to handle things.
>Write-in...

>>4041428
>Anna however, is wearing something even more impractical, namely, a black frilly dress that seems to extend to the floor. It's hardly the outfit one would normally want to be wearing when engaging in skullduggery such as this, and Anna seems to agree. Her red face doing an excellent job at showing just how displeased with the outfit she is.
Delightful! Do we have portraits for Anna and Alura, by the way?
>With a last comment warning you not to trust your closest friend
To be fair, Shirley's given us *plenty* of reasons not to trust her.
>>4041429
>Look for a group of people in the car park to ambush and take their passes
Honestly I'm not totally sure about whether it's better to go this way or for the "more out of the way" option, but I'd definitely rather we make a call here after Alura's done so much already.

>>4041429
>Try to find a more out of view area before trying to find a group to rob.
Last thing we really need are witnesses.

>>4041437
I don't believe I ever managed to find a portrait for Anna or Alura that actually satisfied me.
I'll see what I can find for Anna.
But there's a surprising lack of content for Alura Une that isn't just literal hentai.
Damn immodest plants.

>>4041452
>I don't believe I ever managed to find a portrait for Anna or Alura
Do your best. I can look for art or put something together in picrew again, if you want to post a description of their appearances.

>>4041713
I managed to find some art for Anna that might just work, but I'll have to see if I can find a way to edit it first, and God knows how that's going to go.
As for Alura, I'll eventually find something for her, I remember seeing at least one picture I might've been able to use.

But if I fail, I'll do a quick summary of their current appearances.

>>4041429
>Try to find a more out of view area before trying to find a group to rob.
Why don't we just send the killbot to do it?

Why is Alura so best?
How can vampires compete?

>>4041437
>Try to find a more out of view area before trying to find a group to rob.

Question: Do we not have money on us? Did we lose that when we got rescued? Why not just buy tickets from someone.

Also, if we're robbing anyone
>Ask Alura and Anna if they have any method of knocking people unconscious (beyond physical force)

>>4041920
You still have all your money, but trying to haggle for four tickets for a luxury transatlantic cruise is probably going to cost more than you have.

Nevermind that most people would be unwilling to part with their tickets anyway.
Or give you the time of day, even.

>>4042008

Do we still have our cellphone?
Unless we want to call Shirley, we should really dump it because it might get tracked (or possibly we're being tracked already, who knows how far Ecclesia I mean Dorin reaches)

>>4042282
>Cellphone
It's totally busted now.

As for Ecclesia, it sort of fell apart on account of the two people with leadership skills turning evil and dying and Shanoa (who spends her entire life learning to be a weapon and only a weapon.) sort of just going off to do her own thing.

Also the whole part where it turned into a Dracula Resurrection cult.

>>4041829
Because the plebeians are obsessed with their sucky waifus. Pun intended.

>>4042369
I agree. There's also the guys who want to do dark lord path while becoming a big face in the occult underworld on our own is a vastly superior path.

>>4042381
I don't think you properly understand what becoming the dark lord means. Nobody wants to have our mind taken over by dracula.

>>4042455
Iunno, the only time we saw someone become the dark lord, they immediately turned evil. The times they failed, they turned nasty.

Neither seems a nice outcome for us.

I see that you're implying that we can potentially get the title and the powers that go with it without the consequences, but I don't think that's been established enough, so it's up to the OP.

Worth pointing out that candidates have gotten pretty powerful without getting officially lorded.

>>4042607
Well let's recount our Dark Lords.
>Dracula
The real deal, Matthias doesn't actually become truly evil until after his second wife does.
>Soma
Was the True Dark Lord for a while in Aria after defeating Graham, avoided being corrupted by evil and stopped being the Dark Lord.
In the Bad Ends, he becomes evil because either Chaos takes full control over his soul or he gives into despair.
>Graham
Became a sort of fake Dark Lord by claiming Dracula's throne. Didn't really have all the powers though.
>Dmitrii
Tries to copy the Power of Dominance, doing so makes him close to a Dark Lord but he ends up getting soul indigestion and explodes into demons.

Real mixed bag of possibilities.

>>4042665
>his second wife does
Dies.
More specifically "lynched for being a healer."

I think that consorting with the ultimate evil and creating offspring with it is far more a reason than "she heals people."

But hey.
Medieval Transylvanians must have messed up priorities.

>>4042665
So basically shits inconsistent and becoming the dark lord might make us explode?

>>4042665
I'm getting that we have every chance of becoming the dark lord and staying our own person, provided we can handle our shit.
Some people are so pessimistic.

File: Anna Morgan.jpg (838 KB, 850x966)

838 KB JPG

Here's a portrait for Anna, by the way.
Note that the dress she's wearing here is far less extravagant than the one Alura forced her into.

>>4043161
Ooh, nice!

"We'll go as a group, alright? We'll find an out of the way part of the port and knock some people unconscious before taking their tickets." You relay your decision to the three girls. Hopefully you won't end up responsible for killing anyone again, you lament the fate of those police officers for a brief moment.

"Except that when they wake up, we'll immediately have our cover blown." Anna quickly puts a dampener on your plan before continuing "so, the way I see it, that really leaves us with no choice but to kill whoever we end up targeting and disposing of their bodies." It's surprisingly bloodthirsty, but you can see the logic behind it. However, the way she's so calm about the idea of murdering in cold blood simply because it would be more convenient suggests a far more dangerous nature to the girl than you had first assumed her to have.

Merely robbing them would just result in them reporting their tickets stolen and the deception would immediately fall apart when the ship's staff attempted to take some sort of action, and with Alura and Coller with you, you're fairly certain things would get very bloody very quickly. On the contrary, killing them would draw effectively no real suspicion up until the cruise ended, giving you ample time to have already made your escape into Europe proper.

This being the case, you suppose you'll just have to decide what to do with whoever you end up taking the passes from when you get to that point. But for now, you should be focusing on actually getting the boarding passes rather than theorizing on just what you are going to do with the owner's of said passes.

To that end, you suppose you ought to ask the girls if they have any way to knock somebody ought without just physically beating them till they lose consciousness. "Alura, Anna, Coller. I need to ask if the three of you have any abilities that will allow us to incapacitate these people without actually... hitting them." It's doubtful Anna has any useful skills in this regard, but hopefully Alura or Coller will be of aid.

"Not unless you want a highly contagious corrosive fungus growing in their lungs I don't." That sounds more like a biological weapon than it does an attack! "When it comes to dealing with people, most of the things I've brought with me will end up with the victims dead." Not at all the response you expected, but still not what you're looking for right now.

Alura laughs "Do you really even need to ask? When it comes to poisons or making people quite defenseless, I doubt you'll find anyone better than me." She seems quite proud of her abilities, not that you can fault her for it, so far, Alura has proven herself to be incredibly reliable.

"The previous statement is provably false. No poison or pheromone is guaranteed to have the intended result on a human body, it is a simple in-built fault of anything of a biological nature." Coller chimes in now, her usually emotionless robotic voice has the tone a teacher might take when talking to a student. "It would thus, be far more prudent to rely on a less unreliable method to incapacitate a human. For example, relying on an electrical discharge in order to paralyze a subject would be a far quicker and effective solution than clumsily injecting poison into them and hoping for the intended result. I am equipped with the faculties to accomplish such a thing by analyzing a target and administering the amperage required to cause a temporary full paralysis of the body."

For the first time, you see Alura appear quite speechless. She obviously wasn't expecting her abilities to be downplayed in such a manner, especially not by the impassive robot. Before things inevitably get heated, you decide to move things forwards. "Excellent, that makes this next part easier then. First though, we need to get through this fence, and Anna doesn't look to be in the correct attire for climbing." She frowns at the reminder of the outfit, but your suggestion is enough to spur Coller into action, as she springs forwards and simply tears a section of the fence down. It's not exactly low-profile, but hopefully, with the strength required to have accomplished such a feat, they will assume it was instead a Bear or some other wild animal.

Making your way into the carpark, you notice there are quite a few groups of people milling around, luckily, none of them seemed to have spotted your entrance. You quickly make your way through the car park, walking past a not-insignificant number of people. It seems as if you've arrived before they allow anyone on board the ship. Eventually, you find a dark alleyway in between two service buildings. It's quite out of the way, but thankfully, there are a few groups of stray holidaymakers that seem to walk past your ambush point.

Soon enough, you spot a perfect group of targets about to walk past your ambush point, a man and three women. "Alright, get ready Alura, Coller. You know what to do, right?" You ask with apprehension heavy in your voice, you won't get another shot at this, if they scream, your cover will totally be blown, so with that in mind, you opted to take as discreet an approach as possible.

""Of course."" The two girls simultaneously give their assent, before giving the other a spiteful look. Even Coller's emotionless expression breaks for an instant before she refocuses, stepping out of the alleyway, passing by the group of people, rapidly touching each of them as she walks past, the light seems to leave their eyes as all four of them fall to the floor, briefly convulsing before going still.

"Targets incapacitated." Coller states out loud, she at least has the sense to keep her voice low. Then just on cue, vines spring forth from the alleyway and wrap around the four unfortunate victims, dragging them each to their fate in the alleyway.

And so, four people dangle in front of you, heavily cocooned in vines and injected with a poison of some sort by Alura to ensure they won't wake up for at least a few hours. Their boarding passes in hand, the question remains, just what are you going to do with them...?

>Order Alura to inject them with a lethal poison and dispose of the bodies.
>Leave them unconscious in the alleyway, it's very risky, but you don't really want any more blood on your hands.
>Bring the four holidaymakers with you and have them hidden away in your room.
>Write-in...

>>4043478
>Order Alura to inject them with a lethal poison and dispose of the bodies.
Reliability is all-important! We don't want any softness coming back to bite us, and since we already have the Paladin Organization after our necks we've really got no reason to be kind.

>>4043478
>Bring the four holidaymakers with you and have them hidden away in your room.

>>4043478

>"Anna, Alura. Got anything for memory loss? If they can't remember the last few days, reporting tickets will be the least of their worries."

>>4043478


>>4043478
>>Order Alura to inject them with a lethal poison and dispose of the bodies.
No witnesses

>>4043478
>Bring the four holidaymakers with you and have them hidden away in your room.

Can we not just start slaughtering innocent people for convenience?
We won't make it as Dark Lord if we're just ridiculously evil.
But damn if killing them isn't the wisest choice.

>>4043744
This would also be useful.

Why is Team Evil so much more reliable than our previous bunch of allies?
Theresia was basically a team mascot and Shirley was a jobber.
Even the intel girl immediately died or whatever.

>>4043905
But anon, this is Team Neutral

Hm, looks like
2 for kill
2 for kidnap
2? For asking if anyone can mindwipe them.

>>4043905
>>4044004
I mean, if I gave them, two people in your new group would have Neutral Evil and Lawful Evil as their alignments.
With the third being True Neutral.

No prizes for guessing who is who.

>>4044011
>That portrait
>Lawful Evil
Not going to lie, I'm really beginning to come around to seeing Anna as best girl.

>>4044011
Traditional alignments suck anyway. Lawful Evil more like Reasonable Selfish

>>4044011
+1 for asking about memory wiping.

>>4044194
So, looks like asking if you can memorywipe your victims wins.
Yeah, in some ways, this is crueller than simply killing them off.
But if that's what you want, alright.

I'm surprised you didn't think to bring them with you for the sake of the plant that requires blood as sustenance, but that's a hurdle you'll need to solve later.

>>4044161
Alignments are relatively subjective anyway. But they fit into those archetypes the most.

>>4044107
You have peculiar tastes, anon.
Not that I'm faulting them.

>>4044376
I'd like to wipe off recent memories only. I highly doubt that's as cruel as murder.

If our only option is wiping all memories, that's something far graver.

The question, of course, is what options we have.

>>4044011
I would end the tie by voting for killing them, but I guess I'm too late for that.
But QM, what's our protagonist's alignment?

>>4044518
I suppose it started as Lawful Neutral and has since shifted to True Neutral with a hint of Evil.
Not terribly Evil, but Evil enough to consider killing for pragmatism's sake, even though he'd have regrets about it.
At first.

But hey, it might shift once more.
It's really a developmental stage for him.
It's only been two days.

It's easier to move downward on the scale than it is to move upwards though.

>>4044634
Oh, right.
For quite obvious reasons, it's very easy to move on the "chaotic" axis.
Considering just what the source of your powers *technically* is.

>>4044376
>You have peculiar tastes, anon.
Yep. "Cruel, arrogant, high-class girls who are only kind or respectful to a few people, including their partner (or in this case the protagonist)" is a bit of an odd preference, I guess.
I'm still holding out for the perfect vampire ojou heroine, but so far Alura and Anna are both shaping up very nicely.

>>4044634
All sounds good to me.

>>4044655
>I'm still holding out for the perfect vampire ojou heroine
She might yet show up, anon.
Who knows?

Such a shame you decided to leave the country without checking the Bunker.
Does that escaped vampire even know you exist?
If they do, how will they find you?

>>4044723
>Such a shame you decided to leave the country without checking the Bunker.
>Does that escaped vampire even know you exist?
>If they do, how will they find you?
Aaaargh.
Why does it have to be this way?

>>4044859
Don't worry anon, I'm not so cruel to punish you with ephemeral sightings of vampires like this.
I also wouldn't introduce a character that simply won't show up at all.
It's just that their proper introduction will have to wait is all.

Again.

>>4045064
Well now, let's see how this could work out.
She's a vampire, so perhaps she has some instinctive knowledge or feeling pertaining to the presence/location of a Dark Lord Candidate, owing to the connection to Dracula, the foremost vampire.
Alternatively, vampires aren't really an American thing; perhaps she, too, will flee to her European homeland in order to escape the organization that sealed her up.

>>4045114
Stay tuned anon.
I can assure you, the vampires will come soon enough.

I can't believe Receptionist girl is dead.

No really.
She's totally not dead.

Shirley is a Lecarde tier fuck-up.

"All right, now that we've got the passes, we need to deal with these four. But I don't really want to be forced to kill them, for they haven't exactly wronged any of us." Looking at the unconscious victims, you find yourself thinking just what a dilemma the situation truly is. While killing them would obviously be the most effective solution, allowing you to simply forget about them, you just aren't comfortable with the idea of killing them in such a cold-blooded manner. It would have been different were they directly opposed to you, but these four were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But then what to do? The idea of kidnapping them and taking them with you onto the ship appeals for a moment, even though the logistics of such a thing would be loathsomely difficult to deal with, not to mention that you'd have to keep them alive and hidden for the entirety of the cruise not to have merely caused yourself additional stress for no actual gain.

Still, you certainly can't just let them go, they would simply report their tickets stolen. It's quite the quandary, but thankfully, inspiration strikes. If you could just have them forget all about their cruise, then you'd have no problems, moral or obvious. However, as far as you know, the Power of Destruction can't be used in such a way. Even if it could, you feel attempting to use it on somebody you don't specifically want to kill as a test would be a recipe for disaster.

Once again, it seems you will need to rely on your allies, Alura should have something of use for memory erasure, right? You don't know if there are any specific poisons that destroy memories, but it's worth a shot.

You take a quick glance at the woman, her inhuman features hidden by her disguise as they are as she looks at the bound group, unlike her non-human qualities, barely disguised is an unhinged look of killing intent in her eyes and a quite malevolent smile. "Alura, you said you are proficient with poisons, yes?" Your address immediately causes the sadism to drop off of her face to be replaced with a more benevolent look of happiness as she turns away from the dangling bodies to focus on you instead.

"Of course, why? Are they to die now then?" There's a strangely expectant tone in her voice as she suggests killing them. It's a reminder that despite her beauty, this woman is just as dangerous as Coller showed herself to be earlier, if not even more so.

"Not quite, I wanted to know if you had any sort of poison that might affect their memories so that they don't remember anything of this cruise. If they are dealing with dramatic memory loss, reporting their stolen tickets ought to be the last thing they think of doing." It also helps keep your hands clear of any more blood than they have to be. The morality of altering the mind of another notwithstanding.

Alura nearly bursts into joyous laughter at the suggestion of removing their memories, apparently finding something hysterical within it. Eventually though, as she sees the annoyed look forming on your face, she gets over her sudden loss of control and responds calmly. "My apologies for that, Arthur, but that was just completely unexpected, I simply couldn't contain my excitement for a moment there. For a dreadful moment I thought you were just going to let these four go free! But this... this is much more interesting than just killing them." She coughs as she raises a finger to her chin, thinking of something. "Anyway, I didn't get the chance to test it out on those botanists... but I do have a lovely little neurotoxin that targets the hippocampus. Sadly it's as the soulless automaton over there says, poison isn't the most precise tool in the world, and matters regarding the human brain even less so, they tend to be such delicate creatures..." She seems lost in her thoughts for a moment, but a cough from you gets her attention back on the matter at hand and she seems just slightly flustered. "Anyway! I suppose that if I were to use it, it might just wipe their minds clean... or it might take away a few weeks from them. It's just such a shame I won't personally be here to see the effects it has on them..."

So, with this revelation from Alura, you seem to have found another pathway to dealing with these captives of yours, and Alura does seem quite excited at the prospect of being able to test out this neurotoxin of hers, even if it might end up with a far greater effect than the one you really intend for.

>Give Alura the go-ahead to use this mind-erasing poison of hers.
>Change your mind, simply have them killed instead of messing with their heads.
>Bring them with you, you can instead have their memories erased after the trip.
>Write-in...

A bit of a shorter update tonight, sadly.
I was hoping to be able to get two out, but that's not going to be happening now.

>>4045692
>Give Alura the go-ahead to use this mind-erasing poison of hers.
Sounds fun!

>>4045692

>Give Alura the go-ahead to use this mind-erasing poison of hers.

Of course, ask her to to be careful and try to make it a few weeks, etc.

>>4045882
I'm certain she will only melt a little bit of their brain with it.
>>4045692
>Give Alura the go-ahead to use this mind-erasing poison of hers.
Let's just get aboard the damn ship already, I don't know why she's so happy erasing memories instead of murdering them.
But you do you, Plant.

>>4046201
There's a reason she's more than fine with the idea.

>>4045692
>Bring them with you, you can instead have their memories erased after the trip.
I don't like the sound of "They might be brain dead idk"

>>4045692
>Give Alura the go-ahead to use this mind-erasing poison of hers.
If she gets better at using this ability it'll be super useful. Disposable test subjects sound good.

You guys sure are playing the PC as somebody who is detached from society and its morals, even though his life has only been uprooted not even a week ago.

>>4046720
Hey man. First off, we don't know what he was like before this. Arthur could've been a psycho all along. Most Dark Lord Candidates are. Second, the kind of trauma he's been through often forces people through massive mental changes. Third, he's got Dracula in his head. WhatIsAQM has made it abundantly clear that Arthur's misanthropic and amoral impulses are amplified by the Power of Destruction.

>>4046720

I personally think that he's 100% in panic mode. He should be freaking out but he's busy trying to not die and dealing with knowledge overload.

I'd love to have him FREAK THE FUCK OUT as soon as he's somewhat safe, like when he gets on the boat properly. It's really pending.

>>4046720
None of the Dark Lord Candidates are the most mentally sound people.
Even Soma, easily the most 'normal' of the bunch, has the problem of actually straight up becoming the Dark Lord immediately if he ever gets angry enough.

Then you've got Dario. Dario just kind of wants to use his powers to destroy things.
Dmitrii is driven by his curiosity to an incredibly self destructive degree.
Graham is easily the least unstable despite first appearing as the most stable. Completely buying into the Dracula reincarnation thing, he actually made his own cult, as opposed to merely being recruited by one like Dario or Dmitrii were.

I don't want to spoil too much about Arthur's past, but he was never a totally normal child. There's more than one reason he was sent abroad. I'll leave it at that.

>>4046741
And yes, all three of these apply in this situation.
The first and third point I can't really talk about without spoiling, but for point number 2 the world he had known as real basically fell apart in the span of a single day. This alone would've been enough to have changed his outlook on life.

>>4047002
>freak-out scene
I'll keep that in mind for when you really are safe.
You might not want to freak out too much though, just as a warning.

>>4046720
I mean he only has one friend, he lived most of his life in a fuckin mansion with his family and he has fat stacks of cash under his bed like it's a 90's crime thriller. I doubt he's exactly got the best grasp of what society is really like.

>>4047410
>he has fat stacks of cash under his bed like it's a 90's crime thriller
You mean you don't?
And that's two mansions he's lived in, by the way.

But he had lived a relatively sheltered life before gaining some modicum of independence, that's true enough.

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Seeing as we will no longer be on dry land for the next part of the quest, I felt it prudent to create a new OP image.
The next update will be in a new thread too, for that matter.

>>4047709
kek nice

>>4047709
Nice boat.

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286 KB PNG

>>4047734
Because of this post, the next thread will just be 250 images of boats.

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3.01 MB GIF

>>4047738

>>4047738
I am alright with this.

>>4048464
New thread!