mid-july event [tdm + fourth wall].

[falsitates]

JULY 16 ~ 31

The fireworks and festivities are over. It's now the middle of July. Outside, it's dreadfully dark as the sun hides behind the clouds. Cold air fills the atmosphere and the sudden change of temperature may signify the start of something ominous. Along with the cold air and strange sensation, there's a white flakey substance lightly falling from the sky. It looks like snow from a glance, but upon further inspection, it's salt.

The city streets are quiet. Those who once inhabited the city of Vitae are no longer to be found anywhere. For seven full days, the citizens and authorities will be suspiciously missing. In their place are something new.

  NEW ARRIVALS

In the distance, disfigured creature with a shadowlike body and golden eyes stands.

It doesn't appear to be particularly fast or powerful, but as soon as it detects anyone nearby, it will begin hunting and pursuing. More and more appear as you run away, breaking through windows and jumping off rooftops. Heading towards the edges of the city only brings out a more powerful wave of monsters. These larger shadows, who are equipped with a variety of spells, fire a barrage of magical bullets at you, leaving you exhausted and weak.

None of them make any attempt to communicate, and they don't seem to understand what you're saying. They attack without regard for who they are attacking and reach out with their long arms. They wrap themselves around you, holding on tighter and tighter until you start to feel weaker and weaker, your energy draining away as time goes on. Taking them out only seems to increase their numbers and force, but they can be killed in the same way that any other living being can die. With enough strength and persistence behind your attacks, they will fall, but before they vanish, red blood oozes from their bodies.

Those with the ability to sense supernatural presences and entities can feel human souls lingering within the monsters.

  SURVIVAL

There's no one left except for you, other holders of the app, and these monsters. Without anyone to run the city, things begin to quickly shut down.

The first thing to go out is the electricity. Then there's the running water. In a city the size of Vitae, there is plenty of food and supplies, but it won't last forever. The monsters appear to recognize the value of food, that it is necessary for survival, and they go after it. They destroy perishables and lurk in grocery stores, waiting for anyone desperate enough to come by.

The sun never does come back. The clouds continue to block it out, and the rain of salt never stops. It gets too cold to bear, and no explanation is given to newcomers to the app as to what is going on. They simply appear out of nowhere and are left to their own devices. They may enlist the assistance of current app users, but that depends on whether or not they are even capable of assisting themselves.

Everyone (including the newcomers) has been strapped with a watch since waking up in this hell. The voting results have been released and they appear to directly correspond to it. They're visible in the app, showcasing who picked what and who. The number represents the number of betrayals you've experienced. If you've been chosen twice to be betrayed, the number will appear as two. It appears as zero if you haven't been betrayed at all.

Those who have been fortunate enough to receive allies or no betrayals enjoy freedom and knowledge. Every hour, the display briefly transforms into a map, outlining the surrounding area and the exact locations of the monsters. It's useful for avoiding confrontations and sneaking into places, but for those who have been betrayed, they enjoy no such benefits.

The screen changes to read 'punishment time' at random intervals. It's at these times when you receive painful electric shocks. The higher the number, the more excruciating it is. There is simply no rhyme or reason as to when it will happen. They appear at the worst of times and last for indefinite periods.

There is no way of knowing when this hell will end. The app is unusually quiet, and no one can respond to your inquiries. So, what are your options? If you decide to travel, you will only find a clue to the end of your misery.

Past the forest and the shrine, there's a castle.

  THE CASTLE

At the front of the castle, there are two marble statues. In addition to this, there appears to be a magical seal preventing entry through the front door. The seal can be broken by finding the stone key hidden behind one of the statues. It's not too difficult to spot with the naked eye.

When you go through the door the first thing you'll see is a long corridor. It's decorated with foliage and beautiful flowers. But wait. When you go to the end of the hallway it just loops you right back to the start. That can't be right. The only way to escape from this place is to speak with the doves chilling right next to the fountain.

"To whom does the true form show itself? I ask: Why did humans disappear from the world? You must answer."

Answering the question will grant you access to the next room.

There's a large ballroom that gives off a strange feeling as soon as you enter. There are Shades here too but they only seem interested in dancing. The sound of a waltz might reach your ears. When you look outside the window you'll see an unfamiliar city. It doesn't look like Vitae or America. In fact, it might seem like a city from an entirely different world with how all the buildings lack colour. Off to the side, there's a spiral staircase.

Going down that route will take you to a massive library. There's a ton of books that cover any topic you can think of. The older books have writing in them but contain illegible runic scriptures. Killing all the enemies in this room will open the door. They're tougher than the monsters outside of the castle.

A strange figure stands within sight.

Comments

[whiteshroud]

I. Network

Grab what emergency supplies you can and find shelter. Find people to stick with. If you aren't trained to fight, don't fight the monsters unless you have no other choice. Run the second you have an opening.

This isn't a dream, it's all real. Struggle as hard as you can to survive, you may be on your own for awhile.

II. Survival - Rescue
[As soon as Jun sent that message, he headed out, Nier's sword in hand. He had a feeling something like this would happen sooner or later, based on past experiences. Still, it's not exactly great knowing he's the only Underground agent in the city. Even their meager resources in Morimiya's incident seemed so plentiful to what he had now.

It didn't matter though. He still had a mission: resolve the anomaly of Vitae and return to Japan.

While he's focused on tracking down the source of this, he will still help when he sees someone. He'll rush in, getting between the person in distressed and the monster, kicking it hard enough to send the creature flying back and onto the ground.]

You okay?

[He holds the sword at a battle stance position, ready to follow up his attack if necessary. All this while wearing a blue maid uniform like it's no big deal.

What. He was at work when this all went down]

III. Castle
[This seems like the most likely spot for the source, so of course Jun is going to check this place out. He's currently standing at the entrance, looking at the sealed door carefully]

Looks like it needs a key....

IV. Wildcard
[Got another prompt for me? Hit me up! ]

II

[morient]

[ Jun would probably be able to notice occasional bright white light flashes coming from the next street over. There's not much sound of combat, only the semi-frequent sounds of something shattering like glass. Surely there can't be enough glass around to make that kind of persistent noise...

... of course it's not glass. Noah stands in the middle of a monster group, wearing his saint robes. There's a conspicuous light blue stain on the front of it, but he seems to not notice. He's not using a weapon, instead conjuring moonstones as projectile weapons and using moonlight to shield himself. Unfortunately, he's still a healer by profession, so his explosive power isn't as effective. Nevertheless, he's got patience, and he's slowly but surely whittling down his opponents. ]

[whiteshroud]

[The sound of crashing glass and light flashes were enough to draw Jun's attention to investigate. At first he assumed it was monsters raiding some store with a lot of glass. But when he comes around the corner- he's surprised by what he's sees.]

What..?

[Had his magic ability grown more- and what was that outfit? And more important- what was he doing out here on the street alone? He'll run over, sword in hand]

Noah!

[morient]

[ Noah has a white light shield around him, conjuring moonstones to batter the monsters physically. He stops in his focus once Jun calls his name, and a monster jumps onto his shield. However, it's attempts at battering his shield barely have any effect. ]

Jun?

[ He's in his work uniform... that's unfortunate. Somehow, Noah finds himself still calm and not panicking over the safety of his friend. Though, he can't move yet, not until he eliminates these monsters. ]

Hang on...

[ He raises his hands and a large orb of water forms in the air, turning into a wave to physically push the monsters away. ]

[whiteshroud]

[Ah yep. Looks like Noah is trying to be super helpful as always. He shakes his head as he conjures that large orb of water]

Save your energy and focus on maintaining the barrier! I'll handle them.

[And before Noah can even protest, Jun is moving forward past the shield to go after the monsters. He goes after the ones that are unbalanced first, slicing at them with his sword. From the way he moves, he's extremely skilled at this, even moving with speed and strength that isn't very human. Even without his full powers, he's going to make quick work of them]

[morient]

[ Noah freezes when Jun starts to dice up the monsters, still holding his water orb aloft. It seems he wouldn't need to use that, so he turns it into a whale form and lets it hover in the air above them.

Jun's power is a lot more impressive, though - he waits until all the monsters are dead before dissipating his shield and walking over. ]

Wow... that was amazing! Are you hurt anywhere?

[whiteshroud]

[When the last one vanishes, he'll glance around before lowering his blade. Seems they're vanishing like Greed do- though the burst of blood was different]

No, I'm fine. They were weak. [How modest, though he sounds more like he's stating a simple fact rather than bragging]

What about you? Seems your magical abilities have grown since I moved out.

[morient]

That's good...

[ He trusts Jun to tell him if he needs healing. ]

I'm kind of tired, but I'm not in danger. [ He healed himself after getting stabbed, though he did notice that his blood seems to have changed colour. Usually, he would have panicked, but he didn't feel any sort of emotion this time. ] I'm more worried about everything else. Everyone's gone...

[whiteshroud]

I know...I'm trying to get to the bottom of it.

[He's seen this happen before, but even then...the whole place was empty. The greed were in all focused areas.]

We should get you somewhere safe though. You're still getting used to your powers, so it's important not to over-exert.

iii

[deadcalms]

A key? Maybe, I'll look.

[ Suddenly there's this mysterious unfamiliar man who shows up. Giyu moves quickly and discreetly so it might seem as if he appeared from thin air. He's stressed up in a haori and carries a katana. Plus, it seems like he fails to offer any explanation why he's here. That's something he can't answer right now. ]

I don't think this building is natural in any case. A demon might be at work here.

[ He's checking out the area a bit more closely in the meantime. Hi Jun ]

[whiteshroud]

[Well he came out of nowhere. Jun actually doesn't note it is as strange behavior at all. Just how lots of people in the Orden were. ]

Mm. Something small, from the looks of it.

[Though more notably, he sees that katana- and how comfortable he is with it. And how he seems to have an idea what's going on. Could he be someone from the Underground? Or another world's equivalent? Huh...]

Yeah. It appeared around the same time as the monsters, so I believe it's connected. If I were to guess, I'd say it could be the focal point of this current anomaly.

[deadcalms]

[ Giyu isn't too fond of pointless small talk so he spends most of his time examining his current surroundings. He prefers to get down to business and not waste energy talking. ]

It's strange that I don't see much blood around here. Those monsters are eager for prey.

[ He would have at least expected a trail or something to follow. Giyu is mostly working off his instincts and past experiences as a Demon Slayer. He really wants to figure out what's going on. ]

You're onto something. When did you get here?

[whiteshroud]

[Not being fond of small talk works for Jun]

There isn't much prey to be had right now. Most people disappeared when the monsters appeared.

[Otherwise yeah, he's sure there'd be blood all over the place]

About a month ago. I take it you're used to these types of things?

[deadcalms]

I'm a demon slayer so yes. This falls within our work.

[ He doesn't even offer much explanation of what being a demon slayer means or what his deal is. ]

Keep an eye out for traps. Whoever owns this place doesn't want us getting inside.

[whiteshroud]

[Well that answers that. It's a bit of a relief. As used as he was working alone, even he can recognize this mission is far bigger than what he alone could ideally handle]

I see. We're in a similar line of work then.

[He doesn't add much explanation either, nor is he going to demand any in turn. It doesn't matter.]

Mm, of course. But first we need to get in - find any key yet?

[He's started to look as well. Maybe they'll be a clue or something they could use to jimmy it open]

[deadcalms]

Hold on a minute.

[ Giyu doesn't give a yes or an audible no. Instead, he focuses on his surroundings and puts his hand onto one of the statues. ]

This might be a clue.

[ It's the only thing that feels out of place to him. As for Jun, Giyu isn't sure if he's a friend or a foe. For now, working together to open the castle gate remains a priority.

They won't be getting anywhere unless they can do that much. ]

[whiteshroud]

[Giyu sure has a point about the statue, it stands out of place. Jun steps closer to it, looking around to see if there's anything-]

-- Found something.

[He reaches behind the statue, pulling out a small key. One small enough to fit the hole on the seal.]

This must be it.

[Going to the seal, he'll place it in the spot. And sure enough, the seal falls- allowing them entry. Step 1: complete!]

ii

[ehero]

[ holy shit that's hot........................................... ]

Yeah, get on!

[ oh right Judai is on his motorcycle. He has absolutely no idea where to drive or go, but anywhere is better than just standing around and letting the shadows attack them. This time, he doesn't have a helmet to give Jun so they're just gonna have to pray that Judai doesn't crash or anything. ]

Are you all right?

[whiteshroud]

[Ah thank god, it's Judai with his motorcycle.]

Right!

[He's not going to argue about easy transportation, especially with his teleport power still being going. So he'll jump onto the motorcycle, one arm going around Judai's waist for support while the other hangs onto the sword.]

Yeah, I'm fine. They're not very strong.

[And yes please don't crash. ]

[ehero]

[ Judai takes off once Jun gets seated. He doesn't have a destination in mind, but he'll keep driving until he figures something out. Perhaps they should go to the beach. Can monsters even swim...? ]

Have you been killing any of them?

[ He sounds hesitant to ask. ]

[whiteshroud]

[Well...that's a weird and potentially very awkward question to ask the dude that was raised for the purpose of killing monsters. jun is mostly just confused ]

The ones that attack. Why?

[ehero]

[ y i k e s ]

And did any of them say anything? Or do anything other than attack?

[ Yeah, he's not going to answer why because depending on Jun's answer, he might just keep this to himself. Hm. It's okay. He's killed a couple of humans as well............. ]

[whiteshroud]

No, they just attacked.

[he doesn't sound shaken by it. To him, fighting monsters is a normal occurrence.]

Why do you ask?

[ehero]

[ ... ]

No, it's nothing.

[ lmfaooooo he's not going to say anything. It's fine. Time to move on. If Jun keeps nagging him, Judai can just crash so they can avoid the topic. ]

Do you know what's going on?

[whiteshroud]

[ ... ?

Well Jun's confused, but knowing how attached Judai is to duel monster spirits, maybe he's worried that these beings are something similar. Yeah, that must be it.]

Not exactly. I have a few theories, but they're based off what happens in my world- so I don't know how applicable they are to this.