[IC/Reroll] Under the Hill: The Final Circle

[Sutoratosu]

Ethic's face darkened as he thought about it. He didn't even lose a single bit of his stride though. "It simple." He answered. "Stealth is our most optimal path here. Whether it's Friend or Foe, I'll do what I can to ensure that we'll stay unseen if our paths cross with the others. Force is something I'll reserve unless that fails... or someone decides to try something."

He didn't want to think about the possibility of harming anyone from the group. But things were far different here than they had ever been in the other circles. He may have spent so long fighting alongside these people, forged bonds with some of them that managed to withstand even the fires of hell... but that would not change the fact that every person's inner greed was going to come into play here. The thing they wanted most, the thing they had fought for for so long and so hard, spilled so much sweat, tears, and literal amounts of blood for; they were all going to be willing to even fight each other if it meant now was their chance to finally grab it.

And even though he no longer fought for the restored prestige and reputation, the prosperity of the past that had drawn him down here in the first place... Ethic knew he'd have to have the will to get just as, no, even more ruthless, than anyone else for the wish waiting at the end. It didn't matter what he fought for now, it didn't matter who he fought for. He would still have to fight.

And if he had to fight everybody in order to save everybody... so be it. Even if that turned him into the traitor; no, even more, even if it turned him into the Villain in their eyes... it would be far better if those eyes were able to glimpse the surface world again... rather than spending the rest of eternity in the pit of the hell.

[Darvan Korematsu]

A lone short and tanned woman walked down a deserted hallway through some murky darkness, grinning to herself at least a mile across -- metaphorically at least. She adorned a paramilitary outfit under a mat of raven black hair. While her smile may have told someone one message, the hand near her waist laid on top of a black holster, which held a .22 Ruger pistol and her Army getup said something else. Secretly, she was scared to death. She had no clue she had just entered hell itself. The dark abyss. Hades' paradise of under the hill. She didn't know how she ended up here, but nonetheless, she had to hold a strong and willing face.

Enter Vanessa.

[Notus]

Ellaria, Mathew & Donna

"I was one of the best gamblers around, but it came back to bite me. This coin was a gift from my daughter, who is dead..."

"I... I´m sorry." Ellaria managed to say, surprised by the sudden burst of emotion from Mathew. He didn´t sound like he was faking it, but it was weird to talk about such personal matters to someone you just met...

Unless... 'That´s it,' the girl thought 'maybe that´s the person I remind him of. His daughter.' she realized with surprise.

Distracted, Ellaria didn´t notice the young woman clad in black standing a little farther ahead, blending in the shadows and dead quiet.

Annie & Ethic

Annie raised her elbowls in a motion that meant whatever, but she still added one more thing. "Ok, just remember we are competing with them, And I don´t feel like getting behind by any reason."

They walked a bit in silence, Annie taking the lead after reasoning that she knew the place better, until she came to a sudden stop. "There. That´s the first point I can´t get past." she pointed ahead in the dim lighted corridor.

There were two gargoiles guarding the way, staffs in hand. The statues (or creatures?) were the same draining black color of the walls, short and terribly deformed: they had eyes covering their entire body, dark irises with a fluorescent green irradiating from their pupils. "If I try to get close to them, the walls imediatelly close and punch me back a long and painful way. Any ideas?" she asked with crossed arms, looking at Ethic.

[Sutoratosu]

Ethic gave no response as looked over the scene. Whatever was the trigger for the trap could be any number of things- a pressure plate camouflaged with the floor, some type of wire that reset... or most likely, perhaps those gargoyles standing at the end of the hall. The idea of asking her to go into actual detail and not just fucking hand wave it off as simply as she had crossed his mind... but he shot it down. No point in wasting the breath. He called up the Magician to the forefront of his mind once more.

The Arcane Lord stepped forward, just at the edge of the corridor. And he concentrated. A shimmer he alone could see filled the air before him as he formed a veil, about the same size of himself, filled it with the programming for it's image.

Something wasn't right though. Usually the process went smooth enough that the change was complete and near instant when he focused... but before him stood nothing but a blizzard of static like someone had cut off the reception on an old television console.

"Fuck a duck..." He cursed under his breath. He tried to resend the mental command line. Still static. Again he tried, this time baring his canines as he virtually bombarded the damn thing with as much visual sensory information as he could concoct at once.

Not even a single flurry of the snow changed.

"Screw it." He said, reeling back with his fist before sending a quick jab colliding into the mass of black of white chaos, watching as the veil cracked and shattered at the force of his blow, though he felt no impact, just his hand striking thin air. Countless shards of the shimmering air cascaded onto the dark floor... and then simply vanished. "Of all the times for it to start acting up, you've got to be-" trust no one and nothing. He stopped right then and there, teeth grinding top to bottom as he considered the advisory once again. "You've got to be kidding me, thats just bullshit... what, are our abilities going to start going on the fritz all of a sudden? It fucking worked earlier...it worked throughout all the other damn circles. Of all the ridiculous, underhanded shit I have seen in all the other god damn circles combined, this right here has got the be the single most..."

He steadied himself, trying again. Getting mad wouldn't solve anything- only make it worse. He knew that from plenty of experience down here. Again, the veil formed as he concentrated. And so did the static this time as well... but it was moving. Pulsating... no, not pulsating, growing. As Ethic watched, the same familiar mass of white and black chaos from before slowly began to elongate, reaching higher and higher into the air as it stretched out, arms and legs forming as it increased in it's slender girth. The length of the body and limbs was...utterly impossible for it to be human. Ethic thought it was some type of manifestation of a demon or something at first. At least the colors filled in their monochrome theme.

"Yeah... that's reeeeal funny; laugh it up you fucking maze." Before Ethic, now fully developed, stood a being bedecked in a simple plain suit, Pearly white skin stretched across a thin and gangly frame, a featureless, pale face staring down at the man and his ally with a sort of malice that needed no eyes or mouth to be expressed. The sort of malice that simply radiated off in every direction as was felt by any who dared draw close. Ethic held the thing's- no, he knew the name of this thing... but he chose not to acknowledge it- gaze as slowly, the Tall Man leaned down, getting in close... Nearly pressing the silky white of his face against the dark chocolate of Ethic's. For a minute... he thought he felt an exhale of raspy breath on his face. And the moment after, he had reason to believe he hadn't been wrong... a dark chasm was beginning to spread on the thing's barren mug, skin tearing as if it had never developed to accommodate the opening of a jaw, more raspy breath accumulating on Ethic's brow as he stood there. Motionless.

It had to be his head though. Had to be the mental effects of the image. The magician was incapable of emulating sound or physical sensation- only visuals... that breath had to have beem his mind filling in the blanks using sensory data that only existed in his head right now. It had to be... had to be...had to...

"This hill... thinks I've come all this way just to have my powers fucked with..." He said, not breaking Eye contact with the demon's terribly close face. Even if it wasn't real, even if it was some strange construct crafted by the Magician's glitch in the matrix... he wasn't going to give it a chance to move unseen. "Annie, explain what exactly happens when you try to walk down the corridor. The walls close in and force you to retreat- but did you notice anything else? Like something changing with the movement or light of the statues' eyes, or a click from the floor?"

If there had ever been any joviality in his voice, it was gone now.

[SnowGlaceon]

Walls, walls, walls, more goddamn walls. That was all that Donna could see. She'd been walking for hours without any change of scenery. No sign of a single person. No sign of life. No sign of anything really. She was at a complete loss, there was nothing to do, no where to go. For all she knew, she could have just been walking in circles. She hated her dark and lonely existence, and this just seemed like a repeat of it. Kneeling, she slowly she drew out her husband's sword, a light, medium sized blade that resembled a katana. Slowly, she raised it up to her head, staring at her reflection.

"Maybe I should just end it. Be done with all of this."

She was familiar with the feeling of death. The empty existence. It would be much better than living with the pain she felt now. And there would be one less player for the others in the maze to worry about.

"No, I have to move forward. This is probably just the maze trying to mess with me."

She sighed and got back up on her feet. Rounding a corner, she stopped abruptly. People were here. How had she not heard them?

"I was one of the best gambler's around, but it came back to bite me. This coin was a gift from my daughter, who is dead..." A blonde, middle aged man said to a young girl. Donna held her breath.

"What should I do? Go up to them? Maybe if I get a little closer I can see what they're like. If they're armed or not." She thought. Blending into the shadows, she slowly crept up towards them. Closer, closer, and...

"Oof!" She yelled. A rock. She tripped over a rock. And now she was out in the open with nothing standing between her and the two other people. If they attacked, she was screwed. Wonderful.

"Ummm...Hi?"

[Rosesong]

Rose, Ellaria, Matthew, Donna

Hearing an 'oof' echo softly in the nearby vicinity made Rose immediately pick up her pace, dashing around corners as quickly as her cold limbs would allow her to. Soft puffs of air left her mouth as she rounded corner after corner, intuition telling her that Ellaria was close. Turning one last corner, she tumbled to the ground as one of her numb ankles slid from under her.

"Owwww..." she moaned softly, grimacing as she rose to her feet again. Attempting to place weight onto her ankle proved fruitless, as bolts of pain flew through her leg, causing her to hiss in agitation. It all flew out of her mind, when she heard a female voice say, "Ummm...hi?" and the redhead looked farther up the pathway. There, standing next to a blond man with a dark haired woman not too far away, stood her sister.

"Ellaria!" Rose called out, unable to contain her excitement. Limping as fast as she could, she crossed the long path that was between her and the girl, immediately pulling her away from the man and into a hug as soon as she was close enough. Murmuring softly to the girl, she said, "I'm so glad you're safe," before it registered that the other people were nearby.

Scanning them quickly, Rose noted that the man didn't seem dangerous. The woman, on the other hand, had some sort of sword out, and even though it wasn't pointed at any of them, Rose's green eyes narrowed as she lightly stepped in front of Ellaria, pulling a knife from her bag and holding it as warning to both strangers. Looking at the man, she nodded slightly, her eyes never leaving his face. As her hair fell into her face, she uttered, "Thank you for looking after her." Widening her gaze again to include the woman, a single sentence left her lips. "Who are you both?"

Ixidor

Taking a small step back, Mia smiled at Ixidor. "This circle is the circle you've ultimately needed to get to, right?" she questioned, her eyes round with worry. "Mother told Aighan, Lara, Meridian, and I stories of this circle when we were younger-- they were legends, tales that we thought were created for enjoyment."

The girl began to pace back and forth, ringing her hands repeatedly as she fell silently into thought, seemingly trying to find the words for the next part of her explanation. "When I heard you had reached here, Ix," she explained, trying and failing to hide a small blush that slowly grew across her face, "I knew I had to make sure for myself that the stories weren't true." Looking down at the ground with a small smile and playing with a strand of blonde hair, she added, "I asked Mother to keep an eye out on your progress so that I could know how you were doing. Kayle was also pleased to hear that you were doing well."

Becoming serious once more, her sky blue eyes turned dark as she stared at Ixidor with unconcealed nervousness. "This maze," Mia stated factually, "is a living, sentient being." Taking a breath, she continued, "It learns from your actions and makes it so that you can never get to the exit-- not unless you have a partner to help you get through the obstacles that are made specifically to stop you." The girl grasped Ixidor's hand at this point, surprising the boy with her care and spontaneity. "Please, let me help you."

Vanessa

Having been steadily moving (and freezing) in the maze for a good portion of time, Vanessa could only to conclude one thing to herself. She was lost, and very badly at that. Seeing only a portion of the wall glow, as opposed to the previous times, she immediately headed in that direction, positive that the localized glow meant something to her need to escape the maze and start her life anew.

Up ahead, she noticed a brownish-yellow puddle of what appeared to be vomit. As she watched, the floor in that specific area of the maze glowed brightly, and the mess immediately seemed to absorb into the floor, leaving no trace that it had ever existed. She walked forward and turned the corner, seeing a small glimmer on the ground.

Walking to the shiny object, Vanessa was surprised to see it was a silver earring, studded with what looked to be expertly cut emeralds. Looking up, trying to see if she spotted the earring's owner, she saw a boy with the brightest red hair she'd ever seen rounding the corner up ahead.

[Sparky]

Matthew stepped back a bit at the sight of the knife that the redheaded woman had pulled from her bag,"H-hey, easy there. N-no need to think we meant harm. I know I don't want to harm Ellaria. She reminds me of my daughter." He claimed with a slight stutter as he ran a hand through his blonde hair, "My name is Matthew Addler, and may I ask the same of the two of you?" He added questioningly, occasionally shifting his gaze between her, the blade she held and the other woman that was with them, "Besides how do I know you aren't planning to harm Ellaria yourself?" He suggested as he stared into the redhead's green eyes.

[K_H]

When Kenny woke up, his first thoughts were to what had just happened concerning the maze, and the fact that he felt like he was being watched. He then came to the conclusion that someone or something was making sure that they followed the Maze, even if there were other, more efficient or faster routes. Then, he noticed the blue blur, and spoke to it.

"Hello there. May i please inquire as to who or what you are?"

Still, even with the conversation he was trying to initiate, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that the walls themselves were watching him...

[Rosesong]

Rose, Ellaria, Matthew, Donna

Shifting her stance so that her weight was off of her bad ankle, Rose's eyes widened in shock and anger at the suggestion that she would ever harm Ellaria. Memories from the Hill flew through her head at lightning fast speeds. Swearing to herself to protect Ellaria and Enya from any and all harm when they were in the Second Circle. The anguish and agony of losing Ellaria in the Third Circle, not having been vigilant enough to protect her from that vile ratman that had broken the girl's legs, threatening her with more pain if she refused to cooperate. Finding said rat in the Fourth Circle coup and personally placing a knife into his heart for having injured Ellaria. The mind numbing confusion when that strange bear of Enya's, Ace, got wet in the River Styx, causing the girl to fly into a frenzy before finally going catatonic. The horror when the child's heart stopped beating, and the heartbreak of carrying the child all the way to the Seventh Circle before having to come to terms with the fact that the little girl would never wake up again.

Trembling with rage, her hand tightened on the knife as she laid her other hand on Ellaria's shoulder, looking for comfort from her blind companion. "Trust me," she said icily, looking at Matthew with disdain. "If I had wanted to harm this girl, I would have done it a long time ago." Forcing herself to take larger breaths, the icy air piercing her lungs, combining with the intensity of the memories and her rage. Her chest ached with the large amount of exercise and the overflowing emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her. "How dare you even suggest that I would mean any ill will toward Ellaria?" she spoke, her voice shaking at having to voice such a thing. Taking a side glance at her surrogate sister, she whispered, "I would die to protect her." Rose tossed her head in derision at Matthew before spinning on her good heel, intending to leave the two strangers before she did something she would regret. However, her ankle gave way again, and with a soft thump, the redhead fell to the floor again, cursing under her breath.

[Ragnar]

"Please, let me help you."

"Sure, if isn't too much trouble with you" Ixidor answered. The boy stands up, eyes on the maze ahead and was determine to find the exit. "So, uhmm.. which way do we do go?" the painter ask Mia.

[CURIE]

After seeing how unlike the Divine Comedy this version of hell was, Edward was hoping that the 9th circle would be completley different than the icy wasteland depicted in Dante's epic. Why? Because he haaaaates the cold, and as he found out in the 4th circle, his superpowers don't protect him from extreme temperatures. But alas, while still pretty different from what the mideval poet described, the final circle of the inferno was just as cold as he had feared. Not that it hampered Edward in any real way, being a Boy Scout he had naturally done plenty of things in the cold. It was just really uncomfortable and annoying. Oh and there was also the whole "don't trust anyone or anything" thing, but he expected everyone to turn on themselves anyway, ever since finding out only one person could get their wish granted.

You're probably wondering what his goal at this point is. For the first three circles, he was in it for adventure, but in the fourth circle, where he first died, he was given a mission: Destroy Enya's possessed teddy bear. He eventually caught up to her and knocked the demonic thing into the River Styx, and Enya died on the spot and never respawned. Well, that's what he thought until the next time he was killed, where he was simply told she was "safe". Not sure exactly what that meant, but he trusted the information. He was given a new mission then: keep the whole wish-granting thingy out of the wrong hands, whether by stealing the wish for himself, or by stalling the bad guys until someone who ISN'T a complete psychopath takes it for himself.

Despite spending a year down here (he didn't know it was a year, he had lost sense of time) his backpack and its contents were more or less the same as when he entered, mainly due to the fact that if he died and respawned, it reappeared with him. It had 8 new items in it though, souveniers from the previous circles. A book from Judgement, which used to hold a shadow monster but no longer does, a rose from Lust that appearently will never wither, a flan-like dessert from Gluttony that will similarly never go bad, what used to be gold coins from greed but were now melted chunks of gold (a dragon happened), among others. But by far his favorite was from the 7th circle, a blade from the time he hung out with Atilla the Hun himself. It wasn't anything different from a regular blade, aside from the regenerative properties that everything else in his backpack has, but in the hands of a superhuman it was a thousand times more dangerous.

So anyway, back to the current situation. Due to being held up by that idiot Venedico Caccinosomething back in the previous circle, he was very late, but he was here now. He was about to rush into the maze as fast as he could, and almost didn't see the warning sign, but then that thing with Kenny and the weird black walls happened, and he deduced from there that trying to fly over those things was a bad idea. In his moment of hesitation, he noticed the sign. Don't trust even the most reliable things... does this mean this circle can alter or even take away his superpowers? Well, he could ponder its meaning later, for now he should get movi-

"Hello there. May i please inquire as to who or what you are?"

Wow, Kenny sure woke up quick. "It's me, Edward. Remember? We had that awesome tag team duel against Cacus? Well according to this sign here we shouldn't trust each other upon entering the maze, so I think it's best we enter seperatley. I'll go first. Bye."

And with that, he blasted straight into the maze at blinding speed. Up ahead was a wall that led into a 90 degree turn to the right, and he knew he couldn't turn on a dime like that at this speed. He could try to slow himself, except you know, ice physics. So instead he had a crazy, stupid idea. A moment before impact, he flung his fist and struck the wall to his left with all the force he could muster in that short time span. He still hit the wall in front of him, but the force of hitting the other wall sent him careening to the right. As he rebounded backwards from his collision with the front wall, he hit a wall behind him, and rebounded off that- and before he knew it, he was ping-ponging between the walls like a Smash Bros character at 999% damage. If he wasn't a superhuman his bones would've been crushed by now, and even with superpowers he feard for his bones' integrity. But it got the desired result: Get him really far into the maze in a really short time frame.

[Sparky]

Matthew took a moment to recollect himself as she had fell to the floor, "H-hey, are you okay?" He asked, hoping she wasn't badly hurt as he steadily approached her, "I promise that I'm not one to hurt someone, but I see a similar thing that you do with her, just more on a fatherly level." He claimed as he glanced down at her as he had crouched beside her.

[Notus]

Ellaria, Mathew, Donna & Rose

Ellaria was happy to hear Rose again, but she was having trouble catching her bearings; it seemed like they were four there now, and although Mathew didn´t seem a bad guy, there was yet the new woman voice to account for. Judging by Rose´s tone and the sound of drawing blades, things were starting to get slightly out of control. Finally, when Rose collapsed to the floor she was sure it would be better to do something.

What she did would take a lot of concentration and effort on the earlier cirles; but now she was not anymore the completely defenseless and frightened girl from before, and her ability flowed naturally through her to comply with her wish.

Before anyone noticed, he girl´s eyes went alive with a silver glow; and in a heartbeat, Rose and Ellaria disappeared.

Ellaria quietly helped Rose to her feet, pulling her to a distance from the other two adventurers before asking her sister in a whisper "what should we do now? Do you want to talk to them more, or leave them here?" it was an pretty weak invisibility she was using now, hiding only two people, so she probably could keep it long enough for them to escape confortably; but still, it wouldn´t last forever and was very tiring.

Annie & Ethic

"Annie, explain what exactly happens when you try to walk down the corridor. The walls close in and force you to retreat- but did you notice anything else? Like something changing with the movement or light of the statues' eyes, or a click from the floor?"

The girl had been watching with an unamused expression while Ethic suddenly started glaring at nowhere in particular - at least in her perception - but she lifted an eyebrow at his question. "Yes, the statues definitely move their eyes, and wave their staffs. Want me to show you?"

Without waiting for an answer Annie walked towards the gargoyles, biting her lips while doing this. She didn´t need more than two steps for it to happen.

Suddenly the statues came alive, all the hundreds of glowing eyeballs focusing on Annie instantly. Then, faster than the eye could see, the walls from both sides of the corridor deformed as if they were alive and blocked the path; not only that, the barrier now formed moved at insane speed to hit Annie with full strenght.

Luckily she had prepared for the impact hardening her skin. All she had to do was curl into a ball before being lauched backwards until she hit another wall with a loud crashing noise.

Moments later, the blonde girl was back by Ethic´s side looking unfazed by the events. "So, was it useful?"

[Rosesong]

Ixidor

Mia blushed, staring at the ground in a bit of confusion. "Well," she said softly, twisting a piece of her hair around her finger, "I really don't know where to go." Looking at the walls, she sighed. "All I know is that for whatever reason, you can't make it through this maze on your own." Shivering, she added, "I'm sure you'll know the right way, Ix. I believe in you." The blonde succubus wrapped her arms around herself, struggling to keep warm as she waited for Ixidor to make his move.

Rose and Ellaria

Placing an arm around Ellaria's shoulders gratefully, Rose allowed her sister to lead her away from the other two people of the group. Understanding that the girl had used her powers to get them away from Matthew and the strange woman with the sword, the redhead nodded to herself, whispering to the girl, "We should go. The woman that had joined you and Matthew had a sword drawn; had she not, I wouldn't have grabbed a knife." Glancing at her right hand, she sighed, seeing that in grabbing the knife she had yet again pricked her finger on the sharp blades.

Limping forward with as much haste as she could muster, Rose quickly lead them into a nearby corridor that she hadn't been in yet. "So," she murmured, "we can't really trust anyone but each other," disregarding the entrance plaque completely when it came to the single person she had trusted since entering the Hill. "What do you think we should do if we meet one of the others?" she wondered idly, knowing that their other compatriots turned enemies were at times much stronger and more unpredictable than the two of them normally were.

[CURIE]

The laws of friction are omnipresent, even in the depths of hell, and so eventually Edward's wild ride came to an end with him crashing into the ground. Even after contact with the floor, his body slid several hundred yards, because you know, ice physics. His whole body was in almost unbearable pain; he hadn't felt like this since Enya hit him with a train. And yet, the thought of how ridiculous he must have looked, bouncing between the walls like some sort of pinball machine, caused him to laugh despite the agony. He laid chuckling to himself for a minute or two before realizing he should get up and get moving. But at the slightest movement, every muscle he had screamed in protest. Were any of his bones broken? He couldn't tell right now, and if they were should he continue on anyway or go supernova? Having parts of his body not working right would slow him down considerably, but on the other hand he didn't know if it would slow him down enough to warrant dying and waiting to respawn. And he didn't want to lie here until he could move again, only to find out that the damage was irreperable and he would have to go supernova anyway.

Well, he was on a slippery, icy floor, so maybe he could move his body actually moving his body. In a similar manner to how he pushes himself upwards to fly, he pushed himself sideways, and his body slid across the cold floor. This was awesome, he could move around as much as he wanted with almost no effort! Only problem was that he couldn't see where he was goi-

BONK

He had apparently been moving faster than he thought he was, because going headfirst into the base of that wall made him forget all about the pain in the rest of his body. With a loud yelp, he was back on his feet rubbing his throbbing skull. He eventually shook the headache off and realized he had a bit of a problem: No not that he was lost, he knew he was gonna get lost anyway. It's that so far, all he's seen is blank walls of solid ice and empty corridors. There wasn't really anything down here, so what would he take as a souvenir? Perhaps if he broke a chunk of ice off the wall, it would never melt in the same way that rose from Lust never withers. These walls looked pretty solid though, and completley smooth, there was nothing about them to "break off". Perhaps he could make a dent with the Falcon Punch.

The Falcon Punch was thing he came up with back near the end of the 4th circle, a teqnique inspired from a certain space bounty hunter from a video game. In the game, the hero "Captain Falcon" would somehow set his fist on fire before punching the opponent. Edward can't actually make "fire", but you know that energy stuff that makes up his laser beams? Yeah, he basically surrounds his fist with that stuff, and it pretty much acheives the same effect. He wasn't sure if it could break off a chunk of the wall, but he's tried stupider things right? Heck, he did a much stupider thing just a minute ago.

He faced the wall. He clasped his hands together, his left hand grasping his right, which was curled up in a fist. He drew the fist back, and poured just enough energy into it to set it ablaze. "FALCOOOOON" he shouted, as he brought it forward to collide with the icy wall. "PUNCH!"

He didn't realize what was wrong until after it was too late. His right hand had not become a seething ball of heat like it was supposed to, it had become a seething ball of cold. So cold, in fact, that the moment it touched the wall, it became encased in ice, frozen solid. He stood there for several seconds, just staring. Trying to process what just happened.

"...well crap."

[K_H]

Kenny saw Edward come into focus.

"It's me, Edward. Remember? We had that awesome tag team duel against Cacus? Well according to this sign here we shouldn't trust each other upon entering the maze, so I think it's best we enter separately. I'll go first. Bye."

And then a large gust of wind later, he was gone. Kenny stood there, flabbergasted at the events that had just happened.

"Well, then. That was rather fast."

He then thought for a while, his mental gears turning.

Hmm... he's got a good idea. If I combine my Idea with his Method...!

Kenny then smiled to himself.

Edward, you genius!

Kenny then used the Portals in a manner similar to before, but this time, he made the Exit Portal fling him through the maze on the floor so that he caromed back and forth off of the walls at a roughly 45-degree angle, sliding across the slippery floor at an incredibly high speed as he fell unconscious, leaving a trail of wet ice behind him as he did so. Said trail would quickly freeze over again into a smoother surface than before. Eventually, he slid right past Edward, still travelling at high velocity, and still leaving the slippery trail.

Edited September 22, 2015 by K_H

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Somewhere near Rose and Ellaria

The two girls had just gotten away from the others, for a second they were not destined to come across any others. Until... they heard the sound of... music? A lone harmonica lazily cried out from nearby, something strangely intoxicating about the sound. It seemed to make them ever so slightly sleepy, but it invoked a strange curiosity. It wasn't like that of anyone they knew so far on this journey. Was it... another soul trapped in the maze? What was it? And why were they playing such an instrument in this mess? Did they not care if they were found? So many questions. So few answers. There was only one way to find out for sure, it was to round the corner where the music was lazily coming from. Otherwise it was head back towards those they had just ditched. Which to choose? The known... or the unknown that lead what they perceived to be forward?

Quickshot Quincy and the Questionable Gunman.

The shots keep pegging down at Quincy and he had no idea where they were coming from. He kept running... now he knew what it felt like to become the prey. However, a hunter like him... being chased as prey... this was bullshit. He stopped dead in his tracks before shouting at the walls "Do you know who I am? DO YOU!?!?!?!"

Of course, Quincy wasn't expecting an answer. But, he got one. From an all too familiar voice.

"Finally you fool... Man, you know normal people stop when a gun is fired at them. And of course I knwo who you are good buddy. I mean... you were only a part of me for awhile."

From the shadows emerged a figure dressed in the same dress as Quincy. And in his hand he held an exact copy of God's Hand. He had a close shaven brown beard and was wearing a sick pair of shades. Quincy wondered if he had a pair of those in his gear that he had from Minos... and lo and behold found them resting near the top of his bag. He promptly put the on sliding them over his big snout. They didn't quite fit properly, but better than one would've expected for a Rat. The two now mirror-eyed individuals stared each other down for a second before the scene progressed. Each sized the other up in a spilt second. They knew each other better than anybody else. After all they once were the same person. ((Though... calling Quincy a person is generous.)). The rat spit on the ground to the side, mildy disgusted at the man before him. The Honor-bound loser... made him sick to his stomach.

"And to what displeasure do I meet you here for Byron? Weren't you dead or some shit? I definitely recall that happening. I laughed A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT when that happened. At least... i think I remember that... Look I got a shitty memory. " the Rat said with a stupid smirk on his face.

"No kidding, Remember you were a part of me once. The horribly inferior parts." Byron said smugly.

"Oh you think your sooooooooooooo funny Wonderboy. You still haven't hit me once."

"You haven't hit me either."

"Eh, I missed on purpose. I felt bad for the little baaaaby.... wah wah wah." he said while pantomiming rubbing his eyes from crying.

"Look, Quince. I'm here to help you get out of this place. If you want to keep being an ass fine by me man."

"Okay, you're definitely not Byron time to die pal."

"Wha- oh shit."

The Rat opened fire. Aaaaaaaa one... aaaaaaa two... AAAAA THREEEEEEEEEE shots to get to the center of a Byron-roll pop. Well if they hit. Sadly, the two had about as much luck hitting each as they'd have trying to hit the broadside of a barn... from inside the barn. All of them went wide as the man ducked down quickly all of the bullets whizzing off down the corridor. "Damn it!!! Why did you have to move maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan? This shit would ahve been done with if you just stood still. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut nooooooooooooooooo.... gotta harsh my mellow brooooo."

"Dude, I'm just trying to help you." Byron shouted.

"Yea and geese fly east for the summer, what's your point? I know you're full of shit. Byron would never lift a finger to help me." the rat said rather calmly. He really couldn't believe whoever this was was this stupid. He rattled enough another 3 shots right at the man. All three once again missing horribly.

[Rosesong]

Kenny and Edward

Kenny continued bouncing and ricocheting between the walls until his bouncing body encountered what the boy had not forseen himself; a dead end. His body pingponged off the back wall just as it had begun to glow its deep, entrancing black color before ultimately rocketing back the way that it had originally come from.

As Kenny's body barreled through the maze at record breaking speeds, he collided into the stuck, immobile Edward, breaking him free but not stopping his own momentum enough to make both boys stop moving. The two boys flew through the air, banging into the maze walls before coming to a stop... right back where they had been. In a heap, each boy moaned, unable to move from the pain that they felt.

Suddenly, a merry humming began to sound, though only Edward could hear it. To him, it faintly sounded like "Ring Around the Rosies" with a very familiar voice humming it...

Rose, Ellaria, ???

Hearing the beautiful melodies of a harmonica, Rose was almost inclined to abandon all wariness until she remembered that Ellaria was now with her. Quietly limping forward with the girl, Rose peered around the corner, curious as to what she'd find. In the middle of their path stood a lone man, disheveled beyond belief.

He seemed to be going bald on the top of his head with sporadic patches of thick grey-brown hair on various parts of his scalp. His beard was much the same, patchy on his face and growing thin and bedraggled the longer it was. The man's clothing was thin and seemed as though it well worn beyond what it should have been, a large hole in the shirt showing more thick hair covering a rotund, robust belly. More matted hair covered the man's arms, while his well-tanned skin was dirty, nearly black in some areas.

Moving back to speak softly with Ellaria, the redhead quickly described the man that blocked their path. "What do you think?" she whispered. "What should we do in terms of moving forward?"

[Notus]

Ellaria, Rose, ???

Ellaria heard Rose´s information on the scene and thought a bit about the matter. "Uhmn... I think it would be better to just go past him, He can´t see us, and the music should muffle our steps. The most we advance without anyone seeing us, the better." Even so, she recognized the music was beautiful and it got her wanting to listen more. It had been much time since she last heard a proper song, specially one this well played; but if there was one thing she learned in this place is that beautiful things often turned out to be traps, and that was something she couldn´t ignore.

[Ragnar]

"Errr.. Sure I can do that" Ixidor answered Mia with uncertainty in his tone. The boy isn't exactly confident about his navigation skills when it comes to traveling. In most cases, He's decisions often gets him lost which leads him to troublesome events. I mean come on, he's an artist, not some an adventuring archeologist who seeks ancient relics and manage to overcome treacherous obstacles such as this one.

After pondering for almost a minute, Ixidor comes up with an idea as he kneels down, stroking his fingers on the floor and seems to be drawing something. "Here, this should keep you warm" the boy manifest and throws a fur jacket at the girl's feet as he briefly turns his head and gives the girl a warm smile. The artist immediately turns away and went back to work as he continues to sketch something on the floor.

"There, our ride is ready" Ixidor steps back and takes a deep breath. The drawing on the floor begins to glow brightly. An elegant roman chariot magically emerges from the ground as the ground slightly trembles. On the front, you can two healthy black horses neighing, gently stomping their hooves on the ground and was ready to go. They seem to be docile and seems to be waiting for instructions from their creator. Thank goodness it didn't backfire. Ixidor thought to himself and sighed.

"Hop aboard Mia and wear that fur jacket I gave you cause we're going to the coldest part of this labyrinth and find the main source of this frigid temperature coming from, perhaps we will find some answers from there." Ixidor said as he takes his position on the chariot, grabbing its reigns and offers a ride to the shivering succubus.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Ragnar

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Rose, Ellaria... and the Mystery Man.

The Harmonica kept playing for awhile it lazily droned on... a lethargic song. The man stood still in the middle of the path seeming to have not noticed the two girls. He focused on playing his song, while standing directly in their path... unknowingly or not. The closer the girls got, the more a disheveled mess the man looked. He looked like a hobo or a homeless man that had been wondering the streets for ages. But it didn't make sense... he wasn't gaunt and thin from a lack of food. He was the opposite. He looked quite healthy from that point of view. Something... wasn't quite right. Like he choose to not take care of anything but his belly. The wreck of a man seemed to be less of a wreck and more like... a choice? He wanted to look this way? It was much to strange to put to words. and when one thought the strange was over... it continued.

He stopped playing in the middle of his song. Dead silence now, as he didn't even move an inch. Not even the rustle of his baggy worn out clothes could be heard. He seemed to freeze in place not moving seemingly anything. And then his nose started to twitch. Was he... smelling something? Whether or not that was the case, the girls were quickly greeted with a rather unwelcome invitation. "Ah... well if it ain't you two sweet innocent darlin's. To what pleasure do I owe this chance meeting?" The gruff voice asked what would normally seem to be empty space

He said this while bowing towards the exact spot the two were standing on. It was clear he knew where they were. How he did was unknown however.

[CURIE]

Not many things could make Edward angry down here. If you hurt or damaged him, his friends, or his stuff, what did it really matter? Next time he or they died, the damage would be undone. But being forced back to the start of the maze, after all the progress he had made, while he was already running behind everyone else? THAT made him angry.

"Kenny you idiot, I told you we had to go seperate ways! But noooo, you just HAD to try and one-up me, just like you always have (don't think I didn't notice your sneaky little attempt to steal my dragon kill back when we fought Cacus), and just like every time it ends in disaster! Look how it turned out this time, BOTH of us back at the start again! And this is what, your third time being sent back here? I don't even know what to do now, you may have ruined my entire mission!" He was already up pacing the icy floor, his whole body searing in pain, but he barely noticed. "There's no way I can pull that trick again, and if I did you'll probably ruin everything for the millionth time! How am I supposed to-" and then he heard the humming.

"...no. Nope. Nopenopenopenopenope"

The voice was headed this way. It was probably an illusion of the maze, since this is the circle of treachery and all. But at the same time, there's a chance it's the real deal. He did not want the source of that voice to reach him, because when- why did he say when? IF it did, he would be forced to make a descision he reaaally didn't want to make. For probably the first time since learning he couldn't permanently die, he was filled with dread. Panicking, he slid his backpack and fumbled through it, pulling out a metal spike. This thing was originally to be dug into the ground somewhere, so as to provide a stable tying point for a bungee cord used for repelling. Up until now, it had largely been useless due to his unexpected ability to fly. But now he had thought of a new use for it. He slung his backpack over his shoulders once more and did that sideways pushy thing again, except this time on his feet instead of lying down, and this time as fast as he could while still maintaining his balance. He was aproaching the wall where he turned right last time. The voice sounded like it was coming from that way, so he had to turn left. Allowing himself to fall backwards he dug the metal spike into the ground on his left side, and the resulting drag pulled his arm back and caused his body to swing wide and slide down the left passageway. It also left a deep gash in the floor, but that healed over in a few seconds. Edward was already long past it, though, and he never noticed. Pushing himself to his feet once more, he kept "skating" like this for about a minute or so, turning haphazardly turning with no real direction in mind, only to get away from the humming. But no matter where he went, he could still hear it. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be getting louder.

It was bound to happen eventually: He hit a dead end. As he approached the wall, he did the dig-the-spike-into-the-ground-so-that-I-could-turn thing, except this time to do a complete 180. That particular turn, despite being incredibly fast for most people, seemed to take ages for him to complete. Becasue somehow, he knew that when he turned around, she'd be there.

[SnowGlaceon]

Donna slowly got off the ground. The other two women had just... disappeared. They seemed to notice her at first, but then she sorta just blended into the shadows, forgotten. One thing kept ringing in her mind; what the redhead said.

"I would die to protect her."
Would she? Would she really? Would someone really be willing to face the dark, soulless beast that is death for the sake of another person? A plethora of new questions swarmed inside her head. Just who were they? What was their connection? Were they friend or foe? Why had she drawn her knife...Oh, right. The sword. She forgot about that.

"That's probably not the best way to make friends, stupid." She chastised herself. Standing up, Donna sheathed her sword and dusted herself off. Then she remembered, there were four people, and one of them was standing ten feet away from her, watching her every move. It was too late to run, and she had just sheathed her sword, so maybe he didn't consider her a threat? As soon as she gathered up the courage to walk towards him, he opened his mouth to speak.

[Sparky]

Matthew & Donna

Matthew heaved a sigh as he turned around to face the other that was around, "Well, I don't know if they're here or not, but it seems that we're the only ones now. I don't think you ever said your name." He claimed as she had been approaching him, "I'm sure you've heard what my name is when that redhead had a knife aimed at both of us." He added as he ran a hand through his blonde hair, wondering what he would do now with the sword wielder around.

[Flux]

"Well... Have you come any closer to understanding who you are?"

It was Meridian, the succubus from the floor of Lust whom Phantom had befriended and inadvertently killed. It would explain why he recognized the voice. He tilted his head towards the ground. He had killed this woman before, yet here she stood before him. And her question...

After all this time, was he really any closer to understanding himself than he was on the first floor? He had survived treacherous ordeal after ordeal, and yet, he had not learned anything more about himself.

"...No..."

The reply was simple, yet tinged with remorse. Even now, he still knew himself only as Phantom, and his goal only as Lyra. He knew her name and that he needed her, and yet he didn't even know why. He didn't even know why he didn't know why. Why couldn't he remember? Was there even anything to remember?

He followed up with one more word directed towards Meridian. It was an honest feeling, as she was the only friend he had made, and this was something he felt he needed to do.

"...Sorry..."