Fate of the World Session 15

You swallow hard as you and your allies stare down Nyarlathotep. The black mass that is his face not betraying any sort of emotion.

"Tch, to think that This is the best Philemon could find. Very well, you've shown some mettle for at the very least making it this far."

You all ready yourselves for what it is to come as Nyarlathotep lets out a loud, blood-chilling laugh that causes you all to shudder.

"Let's be quick, my vile creators...give me a good show."

"H-here he comes everyone! Get ready!"

>Nyarlathotep attacks you!

>Choose your actions!

>Hiro:HP:107/125 MP:51/76(DEF Increased(-6))
>Sailor Moon:HP:55/94 MP:62/97(DEF Increased(-6))
>Eve:HP:84/84 MP:53/53
>Darkness:HP:53/167 MP:27/77(DEF Increased(-6)Masochist buff(+8))
>Rhea:HP:47/97 MP:73/73(DEF Increased(-4))

>Hiro - Flameblade X2(66,78)
>Sailor Moon - Healing Light (Darkness)
>Eve - Surface Cutting(51)
>Darkness - Bolster
>Rhea - Dragon, Dragon's Breath X3(105,55,95)

"Come kids. Show what you're worth." Nyarlathotep sneers

>Nyarlathotep leaves himself open to attack!

You slash at him, but you aren't entirely sure if anything even actually happened.

"Pathetic." Nyarly spits at you

"H-here, take this! Sailor Moon calls out healing Darkness

"Oberon, go." Eve says with a wave of her hand, the robot man does as told, but like you, it doesn't seem like the attack did all that much.

"Is that all?" Nyarly laughs "This will be easier than I thought!"

Darkness takes a defensive position, ready to soak up any damage that comes her way!

Lastly is Rhea who...youo have to stop for a moment as you watch her body warp a bit. At first you think she's going to suffer like Elroy, but what happens instead is that she takes on the form of a terrifying looking dragon! She lets out a roar before spewing flames at Nyarly.

When the flames disappear. He's still standing there, unperturbed.

"Is that all? I grow tired of you hiding behind these weaklings. No...No I will make it so you show me your power...or what little speck of it there is.

An oppressive power permeates the area. It takes all you can to not fall to the floor, but your summons aren't so lucky, as they're forcibly sent back to their COMPS! You try to recall them, but to no avail.

"M-mine isn't working!" you growl

"N-neither is mine!" Holly chirps

"Same here! Dammit, you asshole!" Renee snarls

>Your COMP is malfunctioning...

>Your friends quickly run to your side, joining you in your stand against Nyarlthotep

"Now then, it's you and me. No distractions."



>Hiro:HP:107/125 MP:51/76(DEF Increased(-6))
>Renee:HP:92/92 MP:83/83
>Holly:HP:127/127 MP:83/83

>Nyarlathotep:???/???

>Hiro:Grateful One
>Renee:Thunder Surge(102)
>Holly:Princess Undine(102)

You begin charging your gun, intent to blast a hole into Nyarlathotep's body.

"Take this!" Renee calls as she hits him with a bolt of lightning.

"F-freeze!" Holly shouts casting ice magic at Nyarly.

"Tch, how weak you all are, but not surprising, considering who you all are."

"What do you know?! We're plenty tough!" Renee shouts back "We'll beat you easily!"

"Oh? A filthy hypocrite who cried herself to sleep numerous nights as a fat bastard had his way with her body. And yet you wish to still parade it around so that others may marvel at you."

"H-how did you-?!"

"You run around with that upbeat attitude, that sickeningly false smile, those positive words that are ultimately hollow. You're a lie and nothing more. You could never triumph over me.

"T-that's..." Renee mutters, trembling at his words

>Nyarlathotep's words tear at Renee's soul...

>All of Renee's Stats dropped dramatically!


>Hiro:HP:107/125 MP:26/76(DEF Increased(-6))
>Renee:HP:92/92 MP:80/83(All Stats Decreased! DEF(+12),AGI(-12),PHYS(-12),MAG(-12)
>Holly:HP:127/127 MP:83/83

>Nyarlathotep:???/???

>Hiro:Grateful One(77)
>Renee:Thunder Surge(76-MISERY OVERRIDE)
>Holly:Princess Undine(50)

You finish aiming your gun at Nyarly, and open fire! The blast hits him dead on, right in the face even, but it's still not enough, as Nyarlathotep looks mostly unfazed.

"Dammit...!" You growl

>Renee can't bring herself to act. The harshness of Nyarlathotep's words having stunned her...

"I'm...I'm not..." She mutters pitifully

"L-l-leave her alone!" Holly says as loud as she can, hitting him with more ice magic, however, this causes Nyarly to round on her now.

"And what of you? A weakling who could never stand on her two feet. Always crying for help, and hiding behind others. Your father hated you, your mother left you, and you were nothing more than everyone else's play thing. A puppet who can't act on her own without the enticing of others. A mere doll could never hope to stand before me. Go now, crawl back to your uncle's shadow where you will know it's safe.

>Nyarlathotep's words cut deep into Holly's Soul...

>Holly's Stats dropped Dramatically...

>Hiro:HP:107/125 MP:26/76(DEF Increased(-6))
>Renee:HP:92/92 MP:80/83(All Stats Decreased! DEF(+12),AGI(-12),PHYS(-12),MAG(-12)
>Holly:HP:127/127 MP:43/83(All Stats Decreased! DEF(+12),AGI(-12),PHYS(-12),MAG(-12)

>Nyarlathotep:???/???

>Hiro:Grateful One
>Renee:Thunder Surge(69-MISERY OVERRIDE)
>Holly:Princess Undine(73-MISERY OVERRIDE)

Once again you take aim with your gun, charging up it's power. You look to your friends, who look beaten just from a few sharp words thrown their way.

"And now we come to you." Nyarlathotep says with a grin. A man-no, a boy who was mostly frustrated with how his life ended up. You went to a great school, had a good upbringing, and what was your reward? A dead end job with no way out, destined to waste away in mediocrity as you were annoyed by that pink-haired idiot."

"A-annoyed?!" Renee whispers looking at you "Hiro you...you didn't...?"

"K-kinda busy here Renee!" You say charging

"Ahahahaha! Look at that! Trying to dodge the question? Be honest boy, you couldn't stand this girl when you first met. You rolled your eyes, you wanted her to shut up, you didn't share food with her out of the goodness of your heart, but rather to just get her to stop talking even for a second! You try to prop yourself up as this kind of hero, but I know why you're really doing all of this..."

"None of that is true!" You shout back desperately
"Really? So you aren't doing this because you're bored? You aren't in this game merely because it offers some excitement in your life? You know it's true. I also know how irritated you are with little Holly too..."

"I-I-irritated?!" Holly exclaims with a sad look

"Of course, you're constant stuttering, your meek nature. Even when he was being nice, you shrinked back, and that caused our little Hiro here to roll his eyes disgust. Own up to it Hiro, you're nothing more than a child treating this all as a game!"

>Nyarlathotep's words reveal an unwelcome truth about yourself...

>Hiro's stats dropped dramatically!


>Hiro:HP:107/125 MP:1/76(All Stats Decreased! DEF(+12),AGI(-12),PHYS(-12),MAG(-12)
>Renee:HP:92/92 MP:80/83(All Stats Decreased! DEF(+12),AGI(-12),PHYS(-12),MAG(-12)
>Holly:HP:127/127 MP:43/83(All Stats Decreased! DEF(+12),AGI(-12),PHYS(-12),MAG(-12)

>Nyarlathotep:???/???

>Hiro:Grateful One(81-MISERY OVVERRIDE)
>Renee:Thunder Surge(69-MISERY OVERRIDE)
>Holly:Princess Undine(73-MISERY OVERRIDE)

You want to keep fighting, but  you can't bring yourself to. Nyarly's words cut surprisingly deep as all of you have heard some ugly truths about yourselves. At this Nyarly lets out a cruel laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! YOU ALL AREN'T EVEN WORTH KILLING!" He laughs

"H-how...why are you saying such things! How do you know such things?!" You shout at him

"Because you delightfully insipid morons. I'm am you. And you are me. I know all your dark secrets, no matter how much you try to hide them."

"So you're like...a mirror?" Renee asks

"In a manner of speaking. But I grow tired of you all. I expected something interesting, but you all didn't even manage that. Never stand before me again. Even in the finite amount of time I currently had in your world, I think I've seen all that I needed too from Philemon's so called 'champions'."

With that, Nyarlthotep fades away
It's...quiet. You all stand there, looking at one another. The words unable to come out...

"Let's...go home?" Holly asks

"Um...yeah...let's go." Renee mutters

You go to grab Alphonse, the young man leaning onto you for support. It's tricky,  especially with the stairs all nearly destroyed, but you manage to get back to the velvet room. Igor notices the troubled looks on everyone's faces, but no one can bring themselves to speak on it. You're able to get back to your car and soon you drive off from the area. The ride is quiet, with you taking a longer way than usual to avoid the police, or at least look less suspicious. Once you arrive home, Alphonse, still wounded leaves the car as the girls hurry on up to the apartment.

"Will you be okay?" You ask

"I will be fine. I do not...know the circumstances involving you three. But...get to work on fixing it...we're in the middle of a war here. I'll be fine, I'm gonna call a ride. We'll meet again soon."

>You defeated Elroy...sort of
>You gained 500 EXP
>You gained $30,000
>...You aren't sure how to handle things with the girls right now

You head upstairs to your home, leaving Alphonse. Needless to say Renee and Holly are kind of keeping a distance from you and each other. Renee has popped open a can of beer in the kitchen, while Holly is sitting on the couch with her knees up to her face.

Today was a complete loss. Especially where it mattered most...

>Talk to Renee
>Talk to Holly
>Go to bed

>Renee

A part of you really wants to sleep. To just, if only for a little while, sink into the abyss of sleep and not haave to worry about any of the coming problems.

But you get the feeling if you did that, then you'd be worse off. You walk into the kitchen, Renee not saying anything as you walk towards her.

"Hey..." You say in a small voice "You okay?"

She doesn't reply. You don't think you've ever seen Renee this down before. She's drinking slowly instead of downing each beer like she usually does.

"Renee I-"

"Was it a lie?" she asks looking at you with a dead stare. It portrays no emotion. Not sadness, not fear, not anger. It just...*is."

"W-what do you mean?"

"Us. This. All of it. Hiro...be honest. Did you...did you hate me when we first met? When did it stop? Did it ever stop?"

Already with the loaded questions. It's probably in your best interest to be totally truthful here.

>I did...
>I still sort of do
>I never hated you
>Up until all of this happened
>Other/Write-in

>Time to go see Holly...

You leave Renee to her drinks and you head back, going to see Holly, who is still curled up on the sofa. This one...will probably be hard to deal with. You sigh and go to sit next to her, which causes her to visibly flinch. It's silent for a few moments before Holly finally speaks up.

"I-I...I'm sorry..."

Wait what?

"I'm...I'm sorry Hiro. It was true...all of it. He...he saw right through me. I'm...I'm really weak. I'm sorry for irritating you."

The fact that she blames herself does nothing more than sink an invisible knife into your heart. She goes back to nestling her head on her legs.

You've got to word this right, Holly is especially sensitive to these kinds of things and the last thing you want to do is break the poor girl's heart in some fashion.

Especially since, no doubt, you'd meet Ol' Bessie up close.

>Holly that's part of the problem
>It's not your fault, it's mine
>Sorry Holly
>Other/Write-in

>Take a look at the moon then go to bed

You let out one more sigh and without thinking you head up to your room. Today has been extremely trying for you and now you aren't even sure where you stand with your friends. Nyarly didn't even fight back, he broke your group apart merely by spouting words at you all. It's vexing and irritating, however, this is just another hurdle for you to overcome. You've got to be more genuine with your friends. Enough that it won't allow something like this to happen again.

You open your window and just stare at the moon for a moment, letting this all sink in. You'll need to talk with Alphonse too, he's clearly involved with things, though you're a bit surprised he brushed you off so quickly. That or he just read the room extremely well. Still, that's for another time. For now...you just need some sleep.

You throw off your clothing and plop down on your bed. The strain of the day's events causing you to realize just how tired you actually are. You quickly pass out, falling asleep without much resistance.