The Story So Far

## ***ACT I***

### 2001: Lords

Velvette Witcher finds herself in the Magic Quarter: one of the many districts of the city of Dong Dank. She quickly makes friends with the Archmage Tolvan, the talking shibe Poptart, and Tool (later known as Azer), a fallen angel. Together, the friends go on many quests and adventures, strengthening Velvette’s skills along the way.

Acquaintances of Velvette, Loke the Lion, and Virgo the Maid; go on adventures. They’re also acquainted with Tolvan, Pop, and Tool. For more information on their characters, check the Fairy Tail Wikia.

A month passes. This is when Klavier, Velvette’s twin brother, shows up to MQ. He confronts Velvette, but their sibling bickery quickly ends. Klavier has joined the party! He’s a lightning user, who can wield pretty much everything under the sun for a weapon. He quickly establishes a workshop, where he decides to tinker around with various mechanical objects.

The two get settled, and Twilight Town is established. The twins go on a quest to some sort of jungle, and Velvette is shot with a cursed arrow. This causes her to transform into a new form, which is not only incredible stronger, faster, and all-around better at everything; she’s incredible attractive as well. After returning to her normal form, Velvette names this alter-ego Violette. Violette’s power can be activated if Velvette self-inflicts a wound on her body (i.e., Attack on Titan’s transformation trigger).

Poptart adopts the twins, and gives Velvette the nickname “Grape”, due to her purple hair colour.

Klavier invents Widget, an AI that spouts memes and other incredibly helpful information. He’s able to scan surrounding areas for treasure and threat, and produce physical objects. He’s also an asshole.

After a big story-based quest, Velvette returns to TT wielding a new weapon: The Monado: A blade giving it’s user the power to see into the future. It originates from her and Klav’s homeworld: Bionis (A large titan inhabited by various races including the one that Klav and Velv belong to: Homs). In a near-death or fatal situation, Velvette gets visions of a few seconds into the future in order to change the fate of someone or herself before things go south.

### 2002: Zanza

The twins start to become hindered by a malicious being whenever they attempt to complete quests given to them by those at Twilight Town. Eventually, after nearly being killed by a Face Mechon (a robotic being of Mechonis; the titan opposing Bionis), the being reveals itself as Zanza, god of Bionis. This begs the question: why is Zanza trying to kill our hero and heroine if it’s the god of their home world?

## ***ACT II***

### 2005: Hope's Peak Detective Agency

We find ourselves in the Magic Quarter once again. This time, not far from the main library. We find ourselves with twenty-five year old Snow Crannel, a newbie detective with a fancy for guns and a metallic right arm. She’s soon joined by Loke the Lion. The two establish a detective agency, labeling it Hope’s Peak Detective Agency.

After a lack of jobs, the two relocate to a rented building in Westshire, just aside from the courthouse. Loke relocates his law services to the new building, carrying skills from previous LPD police work, prior to Twilight Town.

The two get a bunch of cases, usually solving them fairly quickly. However, this all comes to an abrupt halt once the two are faced with the biggest one they’ve had yet: Missing Person.

A blond-haired young adult going by the name of Klavier Westley hires the two to investigate his missing sister. The two spend months on this case, eventually getting a lead after breaking into the communist mini-country of Southshire. Velvette was last seen in the hellish district of Dong Dank. The detectives venture forth, and eventually meet up with the cast of Twilight Town while they’re there.

### 2006: Hollow Souls

A new town is set up for the veterans of TT. At the very first town hall meeting, Snow is voted to name the town. She gives it the title of “Hell’s Hollow”. Due to community rules, it’s shortened to “The Hollow” due to profanity being a slight issue.

A timeline hopping skeleton arrives into The Hollow long after everyone has made themselves at home. He calls himself Sans, much like the Comic Sans font. He joins Klavier on several adventures, and teaches Klav a lot about timelines. This allows Klavier to develop many machines and devices that may help our heroes in the future, using a variety of parts scavenged from corpses and a few labs.

Due to Klavier’s new discoveries, and Snow’s brains, they had come up with a theory that they were determined to investigate. They had figured that Velvette had been taken to Bionis by Zanza, and the two went to investigate. There, they did in fact find Velvette. However, she wasn’t too keen on returning. She fights against Klavier and Snow in an epic battle, and eventually loses. It turns out Zanza had taken control of Velvette’s cognition, and had taken over her body; causing her to act out. This is the first canonical appearance of Mental Shutdowns.

The three return. Velvette and Klavier are reunited! Snow decides to focus on her work for a while. All is well.

This is, until everyone starts to go missing from The Hollow. The three become frightened, and with Sans gone, they decide it may be safer to flee.

## ***ACT III** (Split)*

### 2007: Eclipse (Shared)

Our heroes travel the world over due to a machine Klavier had

invented, taking them all the way to what was to become Hell’s Bastion; a reawakening of their home. Snow, Klavier, and Velvette establish homes, and other NPCs move in to set up shops for our heroes to purchase goods at. However, most of them resorted to Amazon for the good stuff, aside from food and the like.

Soon after arriving at their home, an “assassin” of sorts tries to take out Snow. However, she fails, and ends up making a fool of herself. This turns out to be Catnip, a nekomimi female who claims to be an assassin. She’s as much of an assassin as Gerard Way has a vomit fetish. She’s just edgy for the sake of being edgy, trying to make those around her feel bad for her. Spoilers; it doesn’t work.

Then arrives Vaal, a vampire pretty boy with an ego too big for his own self. His acquaintance Kino comes with him, and the two of them end up abusing Catnip into a romantic relationship. Poor girl.

More importantly, we have the introduction of Luna. She claims to be Snow’s daughter from the future of 2074, in an alternate dimension. She explains that she was artificially made in the Kingdom of Illyria as a war machine known as a Gear. However, Gears aren’t supposed to retain emotions. Luna is one of the only five Gears known to have feelings (The others being Elphelt and Ramlethal Valentine, Dizzy, and Sol Badguy). Snow thinks all of Luna’s testimony is bullshit at first, but over time as Luna gives her more and more evidence to support her claims, Snow decides to believe her “daughter”, for now. Luna claims to be fifteen years old, but many tests run on her state she has an IQ of 202, higher than most human beings. Well, she is artificial after all…

### 2007: Fire and Ice (Shared)

Simon and Monica Crannel are born. They are the children of Klavier and Snow, and boy do they show that. They’re placed into The Vault, where they are raised because Klavier doesn’t have time for that.

### 2007: Death's Gambit (Snow's Story)

Snow takes Luna to her home of Ergastulum, a city located somewhere in the eastern Europe. She takes her to a club for Twilights, Snow’s race, and talks to the head of the Christiano family, Loretta (fun fact: Luna’s initial design is based off of Loretta’s design in the Anime GANGSTA.!). This is where things go south. Hunters break in, and despite Snow’s S/5 ranking as a Twilight, she is drugged. In her intoxicated state, Snow tries to take down the Hunters in order to protect her home. This, however, goes south quickly. Luna is shot and killed almost instantly. Luna’s cause of death is actually shock, due to her disbelief of her own mother murdering her.

Returning to Hell’s Bastion late at night, Snow turns the gun on herself, ending her own life due to the neverending guilt of killing her daughter. Velvette and Klavier end up finding Snow dead in her own house. It’s obviously a suicide.

Finding herself waking up in some kind of bar, Snow is forced to play a game of Russian Roulette against a girl who looks quite similar to herself, in order to gain her memories back. Upon waking, Snow’s memories of Luna, or the event had been stripped of her. After several rounds of this deadly game, Snow and the other girl, who is revealed to be Luna, come to the conclusion that the gun isn’t loaded at all. Upon solving that mystery, the two are set free from this Arbiter’s Grounds. They are granted a second chance at life. However, the catch to this is that only one of them will return alive.

Snow wakes up at the center of Hell’s Bastion, just beside the main fountain. Klavier explains to her that he had used this program and alternate universe thing called The Vault, used normally for simulations and the such, in order to keep the two in a purgatory for revival.

Snow then disappears from the town, and isn’t seen for a long time after. Things seem to be quiet for a long time.

### 2015-2016: Experiences (Klavier's Story)

With Simon and Monica enrolled in a boarding school, Klavier opts to return to Twilight Town; however, upon unpacking into his new garage, he notices an unexpected stowaway; his Daughter. Monica begins a short period in the town, with Klavier running a discreet bar underneath a play area for the town’s influx of children. There, she meets Jonathan Altrune, along with Phoenix Vailar, Surandir’s son.

The two remain in their new home until the fated Collision; where an excess of magic and numerous behind-the-scenes works caused the world to end. The majority of fighters opted to stay back and defend against the new threats, with Klavier taking the non-suicidal act of fleeing to Earth with Monica. The two bid the town adieu, with all but one of the town’s former members being erased.

Upon reaching Earth, Monica is brought to a number of trainers; swordsmen, athletes, and an occasional strategist; all until she eventually ran away.

## ***ACT IV*** (Split)

### 2022: Revival (Snow's Story)

Yuuki Nyankou, aged 22, goes on a lengthy quest in order to retrieve an ancient scroll depicting the magical art of Holy Resurrection. He did this because of redemption. He had heard stories of Klavier and Hell’s Bastion from his acquaintance Velvette. She had described all sorts of problems they were having ever since Snow left, and the answer was obvious to him. Velvette had described the events of Bionis and Zanza to Yuuki, and how people on Earth had their eyes set on the Witcher twins, as well as Snow. Snow had become some kind of murderous fiend, trying to kill for vengeance. Her daughter’s death had pushed her to insanity, and killing was the only thing to make her feel alive again. The last place she was seen was the middle east, somewhere around Egypt.

### 2022: Awakening (Klavier's Story)

With Simon, now fifteen, quickly becoming the “skilled” one of the twins, he begins work under Klavier’s crime startup. Taking a liking to archery and alchemy, he quickly takes jobs as a reluctant assassin; severing heads of lower syndicates to give the developing Anarchists time to grow.

Monica went AWOL, eventually being discovered (by Simon, on a bit of a “vacation,” on a magically-inclined Island known as the Dusk Isles. A collection of Twilight Town’s remainders--Surandir, primarily--had moved to the new island after the former town’s demise. She began residing there, quickly forming a relationship with the son of a friend of Klavier’s, Elikris Altrune. Monica and the boy, Jonathan Altrune, quickly became a feared pair on the isle; until Monica became pregnant. Following her daughter’s birth, she fled the island, in an attempt to escape the life she had unwillingly sighed up for.

Klavier Westley, as he was known in this new world, managed to become married to Priam Gold, an eccentric Warlock with a talent for demon summoning. The two allow the other’s “work,” managing a rather enjoyable life. The two manage to adopt a boy named Jakob; an abandoned Warlock, unaware of his demonic heritage.

### 2022: Prodigy (Snow's Story)

The answer here was fairly obvious: the only way to fight fire, was with fire. Yuuki eventually obtained the scroll, and performed the sacred art to revive the one and only Luna Crannel. She was in some sort of coma for weeks after revival, but showed every other sign of being alive and healthy. Eventually, she woke up.

Months passed, and Luna was eventually sent to Blackridge Academy, a school for magically-gifted students. Graduating in only one year, Luna was deemed a magical genius. She could dual-wield swords, use all sorts of skills, all flawlessly. During her time, she met a senior girl at Blackridge. This girl was the punk-rock Juliette Macey. She was very angry, very vulgar, and very, very attractive to Luna.

After graduating, Luna and Juliette began to live together in London. Luna worked out of an organization called The Guild, formed to eradicate the world’s demons and evils. It makes a damn good living, too.

### 2023: Battleground (Snow's Story)

Luna and Juliette were faced with a new challenge. Snow had relocated to London, operating underneath the Crime Syndicate: Ace of Spades. One of Snow’s secretaries, Mallory, quickly defected from the crime ring after she watched Snow effortlessly murder her superior Robin. Mallory quickly made her way down into the depths of London, and eventually ran into the purple-haired Velvette. Velvette took the panicking girl to see Luna and Juliet. The group of four then took on various bosses of Ace of Spades. Veronica, Stephen, Flandre, Azazel, and Alice were heads of the five branches protecting the queen herself. None of them, besides Alice, were killed. They’re all being held in maximum security prison, awaiting trial (Will Loke make a return? Probably not.). Alice was killed by Juliet. Juliet’s quirk is a bit different than everyone else’s: She is able to control blood, as long as she can touch it. This is why she uses her own blood to form swords, bullets, etc. She nearly tore the menace Alice limb from limb with her powers.

### 2023: Without a Trace (Snow's Story)

In the night of a cold December evening, Luna was snatched from her bed, and taken into an underground facility owned by none other than the queen herself. Here Luna was tortured for the sake of torture by Snow. Snow has since placed magical limiters on Luna, limiting all of her magic to her vision. She can only affect things she can see in her peripheral vision. So, this is why Luna’s body is covered in scars, and why she gets chronic migraines. If she strains herself too hard, her eyes can bleed.

### 2023: Her Own Life (Klavier's Story)

Stealing a travel case from her Father, Monica vanishes from Earth once more; this time, arriving at a land known as Elrin. Upon arriving, and realising the culture, she adopts the name of Reed: a courier boy, with a hidden life as a Thieves’ Guild member. She spends her days searching for Jonathan and her daughter, Zoe; to little avail. In the meantime, she takes over the Courier’s Guild, and gets swept into a civil war. Following the end, she leaves her second in command to handle the guild, resigning to a simple life on Earth. With her travel case broken, Monica is forced to make a “deal;” sacrifice her magic and newly gained spirit, and let the world enjoy its new abilities--and she could go home. It was accepted.

### 2024: Sugar Addict (Shared)

Living in the streets of Japan is Nemissa, another child of Snow’s. However, this one has been neglected by society, so customs are foreign to her. This is why Nemissa only knows very little about people and the various things that bring a culture together. She finds herself wandering into Interim, a cafe located in the streets of Shibuya. She meets Alec, a barista with a charming smile. It is then revealed that Nemissa’s powers are very, very defensive-based. However, her powers are stronger the more awake she is. Nemissa is a chronic narcoleptic, so she’s sleepy all the time. She’s taken an addiction to sugar and caffeine because of this.

## ***ACT V***

### 2024: Anarchy

Klavier Westley resurfaces. He has now established his own crime syndicate, labeling it “Anarchists”. Yuuki, Luna, and Juliette are adopted as members. Currently, Luna’s brother Simon is involved, but Monica is not. She knows that Yuuki is involved, as the two had become fairly close while fighting against the Japanese Yakuza trying to escape the country in order to fight against Snow with Luna and Juliet.

Klavier explains that the world is made up of two types of people: Mundanes and Cognizants. Mundanes are normal humans, while Cognizants are those with magical abilities. The two should not mix, as magic and other supernatural occurrences may cause mental shutdowns and/or insanity on other mundanes.

Klavier gifts Luna with a new-and-improved Widget, as she will be acting as their support unit and would make better use of him. Widget is still an asshole.

### 2025: High Rise

In Glitch City, a woman known infamously as Dana Zane, opens up High Rise. Why another bar? She already owns Valhalla. Well, Yuuki asked himself this, but eventually found himself working at High Rise, alongside Monica. It’s fairly dead, but the occasional customer stops by.

Luna has moved into a town known as Seaside Bay, a very quiet town reminiscent of New England. She’s attending Seaside University, due to her want to live a “normal” life away from the calamity involving her mother. On orders from his father, Simon joins her.

### 2025: Counteraction Rising

On the nightly news one night, Yuuki catches wind of a mass killing not too far from High Rise. Dana closes up the bar, and eventually gives Yuuki word of Snow Crannel, the Queen of Ace of Spades, having been identified as deceased from the mass killing. Monica learns this as well, and the two deem it unsafe to stay there for too much longer. Luna meets up with the two as they flee the bar, but the three are attacked by a cloaked figure with a P90 assault rifle, among many sidearms. The three are ambushed, but eventually make it out alive.

Later, Yuuki and Juliet making their way through Glitch City to meet up Dana and two other of her employees: Gil and Jill, are attacked by this same cloaked figure. He’s seen to be wearing a gas mask now, and addresses himself as Satsujin. This is strange, because English is natively spoken throughout Glitch City. However, Satsujin seems to only speak Japanese.

Due to the death of Snow Crannel, Luna and Simon are put under heavy security over at university. Due to a magical duel between Luna and one of the more “popular” girls, Luna is found to be harboring two swords, and a handgun in her dorm room. This would normally have her expelled, as by mundane laws, but she’s just given postponed consequences, along with having all of her weapons confiscated.

### 2025: First of Many

At the request of Luna, Monica and Yuuki travel to a remote site of Shibuya, whereupon the two are ambushed by Satsujin. Dodging shots and kiting the killer out, the two travel to the central crossing, where the confrontation begins. Yuuki and Monica manage to keep the mercenary at bay with a combination of skill and melee trickery, until guns are pulled; the latter of the two becoming useless.

Luna updates the two that reinforcements are coming, as an armored up Velvette Witcher bursts into the crossing; quickly providing the needed backup to render Satsujin incapacitated. Velvette is now donning a bandaged arm, which is her main source of magical offense now. She also carries a large sword, which can be revved like a motorcycle for maximum damage. Luna arrives on the scene, as the three take a moment to inspect the body: a young boy, with odd tattoos. Given a promise of an update in the near future, the three leave, giving the scene up to local law enforcement.

### 2025: Odd Developments

Simon calls an impromptu meeting at Interim, with most of the directly involved showing up: himself, Monica, Velvette, Luna, and Yuuki. He explains that a number of Satsujin lookalikes have been spotted at numerous crime hotspots over the world: NYC, London, Rome, and many more. The group quickly pieces together that there seems to be an army of the mercenary, with someone tied to Snow pulling the strings--an immediate source being linked to New York.

Giving little warning, Klavier enters the building, pulling the room to silence. He explains that another group of the mercenaries, located within Japan, have made off with his son, Jakob--leaving a ransom note relating to his organization. Velvette obliges to go with him to recover the boy, leaving Luna, Simon, and Monica to handle their affairs in the city.

### 2025: Tragedy Strikes

Yuuki's younger sister, Hana, is murdered by Satsujin in order to drive out the Anarchists. However, the culprit frames Snow Crannel for this wrongdoing. Yuuki is devastated, but his will is much stronger to take down Satsujin. Yuuki's mother, Hikari, is sent into a dark depression.

### 2025: The Trade Off

Velvette and Klavier arrive at the meet-up point, an abandoned aquarium in one of the crime-infested parts of Shibuya. They explore within, quickly finding the specific mercenary behind the kidnapping; a rather aggressive, suited man with a cane.

The terms are expected: give up the Anarchists, and transfer ownership to him. The deal is, as expected, refused; a gunfight breaking out within the aquarium. Klavier, oddly accustomed to fighting despite his “retired” appearance, ~~According To All Known Laws Of Aviation, There Is No Way A Bee Should Be Able To Fly. It’s wings are too small to support it’s fat little body. The bee, however, flies anyway, because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible.~~ Unable to glean any information off the body, the two leave the scene, returning to reconnaissance around the city.

### 2025: An Offshore Payday

Luna, Simon, and Monica Crannel arrive at The Apex, a rather grand hotel designated to the executives of the world. They settle in, quickly getting set up to begin searching. Less than an hour in, Luna discovers a rather secret note the NYPD received, threatening a bombing in Times Square. Simon and Monica sneak out, managing to obtain a lead from a spare Anarchist working in the area, about an apparent “businessman” running supplies to their enemies.

### 2025: A Fourth Crannel

After days of scanning various databases, public records, and just watching people on the street, a strange girl was found; Nemissa Crannel. With knowing she exists, Klavier enlists Priam to search through the city with various demonic sprites to cover whatever ground the city’s surveillance cameras couldn’t.

The girl is quickly found, with enemy mercenaries tracking the sprites used to both claim Nemissa, and stage an assault on the offices used for Priam’s summoning. The warlock vanishes, leaving the newly-arrived Velvette and Klavier to wipe out the assault before leaving to intercept the transport who claimed Nemissa.

Employing some questionable traffic strategies, the two arrive at the scene, disabling the numerous vehicles and claiming the girl--a rather odd-minded Crannel--before fleeing to a safehouse.

### 2025: Getting the Band Back Together

With the help of numerous sources, forces are joined once again; this time as a family. A very.. strange family. Klavier, Velvette, Luna, Simon, and Monica travel to Ergastulum in order to stop the source of Satsujin. However, they are stopped by the demon queen herself: Snow. Velvette tries to ambush Snow, but is taken off guard and quickly retreats. Klavier and Snow conversate, but it's fairly clear what Snow's motives are. All the while, Luna is experiencing severe migranes, practically unable to see. That is, until Snow lays a hand on Luna. A series of glyphs appear on Luna's skin, then vanish, leaving burn marks. The pain in her head immediately stops, causing Luna to lose consciousness. Simon takes Luna to cover, leaving the three. Inside of government-owned building, Klav and Velv go in order to defeat Satsujin once and for all.

This is when Monica and Snow end up facing off. This begun quite the battle, but Monica eventually bested Snow because of them both being Twilights; using downers and uppers to gain an advantage over the sadistic Snow.

The group eventually regroups and retreats.

### 2025: Red Grave Tournament

A mysterious letter sealed with wax arrives at the Anarchists HQ. Of course, Luna quickly finds out, and tries to track the sender. The origin of the letter comes from Red Grave City; located close to Italy. The letter suggests a tournament held by some kind of demon ruler, granting a wish of any kind to the winner. This could be their chance to find out the truth behind Snow Crannel's demonic ties, and the story behind her motivations. Luna, now at full strength due to the magical limitations being taken off of her body, decides it would be best if Velvette and Yuuki attend the tournament. Of course, she recommends that her siblings attend.

### 2025: Bonding

Luna meets Nemissa for the first time at Interim before heading off to Red Grave. Due to Nemissa's childish tendencies being completely adored by her sister, the two hit it off very well. Nemissa is in desperate need of a haircut, so Luna obliges and gives her a nice short hairstyle. It fits the candy girl very well. We also discover Nemissa's supernatural abilities are completely defensive, due to Luna coming a bit too close for comfort with the scissors. The duo quickly realize that with their powers combined, they're perfect.

### 2025: Off to the City

The three head off to the city to register for the tourney- as risky as this is. Nemissa ends up tagging along, due to Luna's request. The three quickly meet up with a man in a red trench coat, who immediately introduces himself as Tony Redgrave by hitting on the three females. Yuuki stands by, awkwardly, as he usually does. The man warns the group about the tournament. He'll be entering, but he says that only he would be able to defeat the "end boss", as he called it. Tony is described as a man in his mid-fourties with white hair, matching Luna's. Perhaps they're related? Hopefully not; we don't need any more Crannels.

### 2025: Unexpected Arrival

Yuuki and Velvette decide to go out for drinks to calm their nerves. They decide to hit up a fancy place, very reminiscent of High Rise. However, the two's peaceful alcoholism is interrupted by a certain white-haired woman trying to chat the two up. Snow appears to be unarmed; even dressed in a fairly casual outfit. Yuuki and Velv aren't buying it, but Snow doesn't appear to have any malicious intent. Yuuki and Velvette begin to silently plan, exchanging a series of looks. The three drink for a short while, and soon leave. It's then, Velvette delivers a devistating punch to Snow, knocking her through the glass windows of the skyscraper. She then casts some sort of spell onto the two, pulling them with her onto a neighboring building's rooftop. Yuuki summons Yamato; his main weapon, along with Velvette brandishing her signature motor-blade. The three begin to fight, as it's soon revealed that underneath Velvette's bandages lays a demonic-looking arm, dubbed the Devil Bringer by Yuuki later. The arm is able to harness magic, along with summoning a ghost-like arm for devastating attacks and grapples. The fight ends in a draw, with Yuuki and Velvette fleeing after Snow appears to have had enough fighting for the night.

Yuuki makes a hypothesis where all of Snow's power comes from the glyphs tattooed on her arms, as well as the robotic arm she has. Velvette tries her best to cover her demonic appendage, but it's not really working out all that well.

## ***ACT VI***

### 2025: Tournament

This is the current arc! Keep up to date here.

The gang eventually returns to the tournament, and begins the numerous ordeals they must overcome to win. Yuuki begins fighting against a burly axe-wielder, but quickly takes him down in a single strike. Luna is pretty surprised, not having seen Yuuki's fighting style before.

Next up is Velvette. She's back and ready to party. She's up against another woman, who is about the same height as her. The woman looks to be some kind of witch; a powerful magic user. This sucks for Velvette, since she's entirely melee-based; super close ranged. Velvette eventually loses the fight, after holding her own for so long. She takes down the witch several times, but only for her to get right back up with a dose of black magic. Velvette learns that this woman's name is Nine the Phantom, and she had been searching for Velvette- more specifically her demonic arm. Nine is taken away by the tournament's magical forces before any further conflict can occur.

Luna is up next. Last but not least, right? With her now unlocked potential (thanks, Snow) she's stronger than ever. Once she enters the arena, she looks back up towards Velvette, Yuuki, and Nemissa in the stands, and performs a little flourish of arcane magic; something she's done a bunch before. She snaps her fingers, changing her outfit in a flashy way to don a midnight blue coat reaching her knees, a white dress shirt with suspenders, shorts, and black stockings matched with black combat boots; a reimagining of her original outfit back from her 15-year-old self. She's pit against a black mass, which apparently doesn't have a name. It quickly morphs into a knight of sorts, donning a large shield and longsword. Luna throws reaches up to her shoulders, and in a quick blaze of white flames, appears her dual blades. She draws her swords, and the two dual for a solid twenty minutes before breaking apart. Neither of the two are remotely winded, and are quite equally matched. Luna takes notice that the man is blocking most of her blows with his shield, so she devises a quick plan; destroy the shield. She infuses strong arcane magic into both of her swords, and then brings herself back; using a nostalgic combo she calls "Starburst Stream", based off of a certain light novel series she remembers reading back in the Bastion. After the 16th blow, the shield breaks, and Luna's got a chance to attack. She throws her right sword down for a quick strike, but she thought too soon. The knight swings upwards, slicing straight up her thigh, up to her shoulder, diagonally across her chest. Luna's down, bleeding, and clearly the knight's won. She's taken away for medical treatment, and Nemissa is sent into a panic attack; having been not so accustomed to seeing these things for herself.

With Luna and Velvette having been declared losers, Yuuki is the only one who moves forward. He seems to be defeating each opponent with relative ease, as well; usually ending the fight right after drawing his blade. However, he eventually comes up against an unexpected enemy; Snow Crannel.

### 2025: Curtain Call

Heaven or Hell? Duel One; LET'S ROCK!

Yuuki and Snow face off, causing the two to clash swords endlessly. In the beginning, Snow's got the upper hand. Yuuki then uses one of his special moves he calls the Getsuga Tenshou; a wave of spiritual energy exerted from his blade during a swing. This takes Snow by surprise, but it's not nearly enough to end the battle. After Snow retaliates, Yuuki performs a Shadow Clone Technique, using the clones to his advantage to get a hit on Snow. He succeeds, and then decides to wrap up the fight. He taunts Snow, and finally activates his Bankai, now evenly matched with Snow. The two do battle a while longer, before Yuuki's attention is diverted to Nemissa, who is now shouting at him from the stands. It turns out Luna has a plan for him, and to just take Snow's attention away from her. Even after making her plan publicly obvious, Yuuki manages to play with her a while longer, just long enough for Nemissa to use some kind of high-level spell to transport Luna's long-time lover Juliette Macey to the arena to take Snow to her long-awaited grave.

Juliette throws blow after blow at Snow, trying to exhaust her (if that were even possible at this point), while creativng a distraction from Yuuki, allowing Nemissa to heal his arm from a distance. Once Yuuki is healed, he jumps towards Snow, joining Juliette in a tag-team battle. The two end up beating Snow in a ring out victory. Just because they got the technical win, doesn't mean Snow's out for the count. Immediately after being declared the loser, Snow charges forward towards Yuuki, who quickly dodges and parries her strike. Because the match has concluded, this means that the rules have now been pushed to the sidelines. In comes the cavalry; Velvette comes down to fight as well.

The three fight against the now-enraged Snow for a short while, before Yuuki unleashes his Bankai once again. Juliette distracts Snow with a barrage of blood bullets, which seems to be too much for the demoness to handle. Yuuki throws out another Getsuga Tenshou, this time severely damaging Snow's metallic arm, as signified by sparks and black smoke. Snow's eyes flash a bloody red, before she charges straight for Yuuki. He swings his blade to counter, but Snow grabs his sword in her human hand, causing the blade to go straight down into her flesh, between her middle and ring finger; not that it bothered Snow in the slightest. She begins spitting profanities towards our samurai, and facts about his mother, daughter, and now-deceased (in this canon) wife she couldn't possibly have known. This must have flipped a switch inside of Velvette, causing her to throw a punch with the Devil Bringer straight forward, knocking Snow off of Yuuki and straight into the wall of the arena. As soon as the debris cleared, Snow's body can be seen convulsing, and jittering in an inhuman way. The body gets up, but to the group's right two shots were heard coming from a high-caliber handgun of sorts.

When the three take a look, there stands a black-haired woman, wearing the exact same outfit as Snow. Except this time, she's got two human arms. This woman introduces herself as Noelle Crannel, and quickly takes the three backstage so the tournament's staff can restrain the body of Snow.

### 1997: Renegade

Noelle Crannel, age 17, returns home from a quest The Guild has sent her on to her home in the middle-class district in Ergastulum. Noelle's mother answers the door, warning her that now isn't the best time. Before she can get the words out, Noelle's father is heard swearing loudly at her mother, calling her severely degrading words before a beer bottle hits the wall beside her. Noelle, shocked about how badly things have gotten this time, pushes her mother to the side to retaliate. Her father was always an alcoholic, and abused her and her mother. This is why Noelle took up this job at The Guild; to earn enough money to get her father arrested and have her mother moved to safety. Too bad things escalated before she could reach her goal. Noelle rushes her father in order to attempt to combat him, and eventually has him pinned on a wall. The two exchange words, which only ends up pissing Noelle off more. She goes to throw a punch, but before her fist can connect with the man in front of her, she finds her left forearm being severed with a meat cleaver. The pain puts Noelle into a numb state. She merely looks up at the man who had brought her into this world- her own father; who had just cut her arm off in a drunken rage. She begins to move from her shocked state when the pain starts to kick in. It just seems to motivate her more, however. Noelle's eyes begin to sting, shifting colour from a dark blue to a bright red. She then raises her left hand up, as black tendrils begin crawling through the wall, holding her father against it with the grip of some kind of supernatural being. She closes her hand into a fist, thus breaking most of her father's bones in one fell swoop.

Noelle can't face her mother. The last words she ever said to her were "I'm sorry" before bolting from the house. Two weeks pass, and Noelle has eventually bandaged up her arm, and stopped the bleeding. It was two Fridays after the incident that Noelle's arm started to hurt; and hurt badly at that. Over the course of three hours, a new demonic appendage had taken place of her left arm. Because of this, she found herself coming into contact with a rogue Twilight Hunter. Noelle, being unarmed, tried her best to use the dark magic she had used to murder her father, but it just didn't seem to work. Being taken out by only a dagger, she was left for dead, having been only ranked "D/5" at the time.

Noelle was taken in by BASTARD, and when asked about herself, since the man had taken her tags to prove that she was Killed in Action, she addressed herself as "Snow" Crannel, because of the now-white hair she donned due to the traumatic time she had suffered through. The black magic she had used to murder her father began crawling through her body, infecting her mind. It just didn't happen to start affecting her until she was pushed to the brink of insanity, nearly killing Luna.

### 2025: This is where it ends.

Noelle is taken to talk with Nemissa. The resemblance is uncanny, this woman is definitely our sugar addict's mom. Nemissa takes Noelle to meet with Luna. The white-haired girl is still out cold, having suffered such a major injury recently. However, the bleeding has stopped and the wound is starting to close up. Noelle enters the room, and takes a seat at the edge of Luna's bed. She reaches out to touch Luna's leg, and as soon as she makes physical contact, Luna jolts awake, giving Noelle a confused and tired stare. The two share introductions, but before Noelle can finish talking, Luna has already embraced her mother.

From the time Luna came from, the Kingdom of Illyria, this woman was a picture-perfect match of the mother she had in her own timeline. The two trade pleasantries, but are quickly interrupted by Nemissa. She claims that the devil that cast itself out of Noelle's body wasn't about to let the police of Red Grave take her alive.

Meanwhile, Yuuki and Velvette were having the time of their lives trying to take down the living and breathing devil left behind. Yuuki's spiritual pressure exhausted, Velvette is doing her best to throw out an all-offensive take just to hold the demon at bay. This was nothing like fighting monsters or simple mafia members. This was some kind of final boss in a video game.

The demonic Snow seemed unfazed by everything and anything the two threw at her, having been weakening the two down with a barrage of magical attacks, as well as the blade the demon wielded. Yuuki was unable to hold out his Bankai much longer, as well as Velvette simply running out of energy. The demon begins charging another attack, but a series of bullets fly forward between Yuuki and Velv, knocking the demon flat on your back. Forward walks an older gentleman wearing a red trenchcoat, hair a bright white. The man resonates such a "cool" vibe, having knocked the enemy flat on her ass with the simplest of moves. This man is familiar to the duo; having introduced himself as Tony Redgrave earlier while he was.. being friendly with the girls.

Tony tells the group that he's known as Dante; an infamous Devil Hunter. He joins the party, quite literally, to help fend off the demoness. He dons a silver claymore, he refers to as "Rebellion", about the same size as Velvette's engine blade. He then charges toward the enemy, seemingly holding his own against her without breaking so much as a sweat. Yuuki and Velvette use this opportunity to retreat to cover and recharge their batteries. Dante eventually finds himself in a draw with Snow, before simply "throwing in the towel", as he said.

But the time to devise a new plan that he'd given the duo was more than enough. Yuuki performs a flash step just as Dante turns to give in, getting a solid strike in on Snow. Velvette revs the engine of her blade to its maximum capacity, positioning herself to get a solid uppercut driven by the propulsion of the blade's gimmick. Yuuki takes this opportunity to get in a series of quick slices with his katana onto the stunned Snow's body. He then fakes out a hit, just as the demoness guards her face, sheathing the sword as Snow's body falls back down to the ground. Just as she's about to hit ground zero, Velvette uses her demonic arm to deliver a devastating punch into the torso of the demoness.

This continues for a while. The two are clearly in the lead, but they aren't making much progress in terms of actually defeating their opponent. Dante reappears with Noelle, who's donning the same weapons as Snow; dual Desert Eagles and her signature silver rapier- Lust. The glyphs on her arms are now spread onto her chest, and her hands as well. Dante explains that the demon can really only be taken out by the one who'd brought it into this place originally; that being Noelle. Noelle and Snow due battle quickly thereafter. The two use the same fighting style, but Noelle knows this, using it to her advantage. She fakes out and counters most hand-to-hand attacks, using her guns to counter her enemy's sword. Nearing the end of their duel, the two are using blades now. Snow begins fusing demonic magic into her blade, claiming that this will be the deciding blow. Noelle readies herself to parry the attack; internally panicking, having never had to deal with this level of a threat before. Snow charges at Noelle with a stabbing attack at a blinding speed, yet her attack seems to collide with some kind of shield. Nemissa is seen floating just above the ground, her arm outstretched. In front of Noelle was some kind of spiritual shield; this being the introduction of Nemissa's magic. Snow begins striking the shield rapidly, with Noelle readying an attack. As soon as Snow breaks the shield, Nemissa falls onto the ground. She goes in for a swipe at Noelle's neck, for a killing blow. Noelle swings her own blade upward, misdirecting her strike. Instead of getting her throat slit, Noelle is presented with a fairly painful facial scar- a price to pay for nearly escaping death. She wastes no time- Noelle then jams the barrel of one of her deagles into the chin of Snow, firing a full 8-round magazine into her skull. She lets out a deep breath, letting the body of the demoness fall onto the ground in front of her, slowly decomposing into a blade sludge-like substance. Noelle then gives the head of the demoness a swift boot, sending it straight into the cracked wall to the left of them, with a satisfying SPLAT. She lets the empty mag drop into the pile of demon guts, before finally letting her body relax.

It's over. The chapter of the Demon Queen, Snow Crannel, is finally over.

### 2025: Breathe.

The group is taken back to London, to one of the many Anarchist HQs. They meet up with Klavier Westley, as well as Simon. The group is of course amazed at the return of their mother's true form, now donning a fancy redesign. Klavier remains skeptical of Noelle's entirely.. existence, but decides to believe in her, despite his better judgement. They shake hands, and the group departs.

Luna and Juliette move into a new place in London, with their previous pad having been destroyed by Satsujin. Luna develops a sister-like AI to Widget, known as Iris. The biggest, and most helpful feature, is that Iris isn't an asshole.

Yuuki returns to Japan, back to his home in Yokohama. He visits his mother once in a while, in order to bring a smile to her face, if only temporary.

Noelle ends up moving to France, living a simple life of a retired woman from her life of crime. Nemissa ends up living with her, due to their similarities.

Klavier continues his legacy as the Godfather of the Anarchists.

## ***ACT I (VII)***

### 2028: Memories of Yesterday

We find ourselves... back in the realm of Dong Dank? Our second story begins with our new protagonist awakening in the midst of the Netherward. We learn her name is Celica, and she goes into a blind panic. The last thing she remembers is going to sleep after work, but she wakes up in such a hellish desert. She checks her cell phone; to no avail. It won't even power on! She looks through her pockets, and finds a couple items. She finds two stones, marked "Homestone" and "Greater Shardstone". Before she can even react, a strange sensation overcomes Celica. In a flash of light, she finds herself in some sort of marketplace. She wanders for a little bit, eventually discovering that she has quite the plethora of Stamina Potions stored in a bank account she didn't know she even had. It's almost like she had been here before.

Off to work she went. Celica spent her time working, or sleeping. Through the week she spent on the streets, not a single other person was seen. She just found herself completing various tasks, and money magically being added to her bank account. She eventually purchased a house in Westshire, which upon further investigation ended up being Snow Crannel and Loke the Lion's *Hope's Peak Detective Agency*.

During the nights Celica spent at the late agency, she found herself having strange dreams. She could recall visions, or even direct conversations between Snow and Loke. She dreamed of a place called Westshire; wherever that might be. From her explorations around the realm, Celica couldn't find any sort of place matching the name.

### 2028: Choice

Celica, after weeks of wandering, obtaining gold, and learning the secrets of Loke and Snow's establishment and adventures, finally comes into contact with another human voice. This, being telepathically. The voice calls themself Dizzy, some kind of code name. Due to her lonesome, Celica invites Dizzy to come meet her in Southshire.

Two days pass, and a teenage boy finally arrives at Hope's Peak. He and Celica quickly become aquainted, before Dizzy proposes a deal. He'll help Celica learn to live in this foreign world, but she has to come with him. After much turmoil, she finally agrees, following Dizzy back to another part of this land, far far away from Dong Dank. This is later labeled Aether, by Dizzy and those around him.

Celica is taken back to some kind of hideout, resembling a futuristic bomb shelter of sorts; being quite expansive as well. An observation she makes while she's entering; most of the inhabitants are teenagers, young adults, and even just children. She aura of this place is very strange; a mix of despair as well as gleaming hope. Dizzy takes Celica several floors underground, before entering a large chamber with a very homelike feeling. She is introduced to a man, who couldn't be older than twenty-five, who introduces himself as Nikolai- this man is very Russian as well, down to the ushanka he constantly wore, and large coat/cape. Nikolai offers to allow Celica to join his "team", as he calls it, in exchange for her mystical psychic powers she appears to have. She agrees, having not much of a place to return to if she declined anyway. Nikolai is overjoyed, and welcomes Celica Amber to the group known as Satusjin.

### 2028: Neutrality

Luna Crannel and Juliette Macey end up getting married in July of 2028. Their wedding was full of those they had shared trivial moments with- even the Godfather himself managed to show up. Monica and Simon were there to support and show their gratitude towards their sister. Nemissa showered Luna and Juliette (quite literally) with candy and sweets; all home made (and stolen from Alec at Shibuya's Interim). Noelle, having been the one to walk Luna down to read her vows, spent most of the night acting like a proud mother should. Velvette was even seen wearing a dress; very uncommon for her masculine self.

Yuuki Nyankou ends up visiting a "crossroads" of sorts. There exists a tavern of some sort that exists between dimensions. It just so happens that his younger sister, Hana, owns the place. This Hana, of course, is from an alternate dimension. He stops by every so often, mainly to check up on her, but to chat with those around her as well. It's a nice stress reliever for him.

### 2028: Soul Sacrifice

Hana begins to "lose heart", as one of her close friends described the illness to Yuuki. Her inner soul is damaged, and needs to be transferred to a newer vessel in order to live. This comes with a cost; the new Hana (known as Mika), has no memory of anything prior to their awakening. Yuuki is torn apart, eventually ending up drinking with Dana at her apartment in Glitch City. He can't bear to face Mika, having told himself to not bother trying to reestablish the connection. He'd already had her die once; it's not something he was terribly keen on experiencing again.

Yuuki ends up heading back to the tavern, now run by Hana's partner, Azaezel. There, Yuuki meets a woman named Park, who asks for his help dissolving the curse that cost his sister her life. Yuuki agrees; anything it takes.

### 2028: A New Challenger Approaches!

Yuuki heads into a newly-public domain known simply as The Underground; a massive city three times the size of NYC built entirely underneath the earth's surface. He initially heads down with business of finding another Anarchist known as Dimitri; obtaining a flash drive with documents regarding the Red Grave incident on it.

He enters a nightclub to meet Dimitri, and succeeds. Inside, he meets up with Azaezel, and soon after Park. Park explains to the two a thing or two about reincarnation, and talks about the curse placed upon Hana. The meeting is brief, but Yuuki goes to leave and is quickly attacked by beowulf-like creatures. He manages to slay most of them, but the remaining one ambushes him from the shadows. When he thought all was naught, a mage known as Sage blasts the beast off of our hero, and explains to Yuuki he "owes her one".

A short while later, Yuuki heads back into The Underground to meet up with Monica Crannel, a fellow Anarchist as well as a good friend to accept a job offer right from the Godfather himself. While down there, Sage meets up with him and much to his dismay, talks him into helping her with a certain task. Yuuki is soon faced with a suited man and several bug-like demons; who talk about Sage stealing some kind of powerful Grimoire from their possession. Yuuki reluctantly defends Sage, and quickly takes out the demons. The man is known as Malakai; a higher-up in Shinya Inc., a magical corporation acting as some branch of local government here in the UG. The two duel, and soon after Malakai realizes Yuuki isn't taking the fight seriously whatsoever, he transforms into a demonic beast, being much bigger than he was originally. The two do battle, eventually with Malakai trying to kill Sage with a spear. Yuuki tries to deflect it, but is too late. Luckily, Monica shows herself and blasts it to pieces with her explosion magic. Monica and Yuuki team up, making quick work of Malakai.