The day Mawthrough had met Chastity was the greatest and worst day of his life, for varying reasons.

A year ago now, almost to the day, there had been a travelling group of humans who set up and performed masquerade balls, places where anyone could mingle and talk with others and the masks meant appearances no longer mattered.

What this served as, for Mawthrough, was a chance to pick his latest victim, and after getting dressed up in his finest regalia and his best garb, he donned a crimson-edged purple mask, and slipped into the town to find a fair maiden to ravish.

However, another supernatural being had taken a fancy to the glamour and the splendor of the masked ball, and after slipping out from under her attentive father's gaze for yet another forbidden time, she hid her wings, slipped on a mask of white fire, and put on her most beautiful dress. For any man, a beauty to behold. For Mawthrough, his ultimate challenge.

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"Thank you, thank you, no ma'am, thank you," Mawthrough murmured as he slipped through the crowds of cheering party goers. So far, no lady had stirred his loins, but many had paid him compliments possibly hoping to. He didn't need the mask - he knew he was handsome. All incubi were.

He knew that what he was doing always carried the risk of discovery - but that just added spice. He would much rather take risks than be boring, he knew that. His mother had always despaired -yet been proud on other occasions - calling him wild. He would always be wild, no matter what.

After a while, it became clear that no-one was really going to arouse him, so he made his way to the edge of the party, hoping to slink away unnoticed.
"And now, the dancing!" a man shouted, and Mawthrough found himself suddenly surrounded by dancing couples. He laughed.
No prey tonight, but if Mawthrough had one weakness, he could never resist a good dance.

He spun from woman to woman, dancing with all of them gently, trying to be kind to them. But after a while, he once more felt disappointed in the passion that was simply not there with any of them. It was like they -

And then he saw her.
Her hair, like flowing gold. Her eyes, like amber jewels in the night, burning fiercely. Her body, something that a sculptor would weep to carve.
And then she took off the mask for a moment to shake her hair, and every man, not just Mawthrough, stopped and stared in awe.
Her face was of the most delicate beautiful tone, not a single blemish or imperfection. And her whole form radiated an incredible... aura, a kind of feeling that enraptured and enticed the stunned incubus.
Then she noticed everyone staring at her and smiled, a little embarassed, and the sight of her smile -unrestrained happiness, no lies or deceit, just beauty - and that was the clincher.

The beast inside Mawthrough roared.
SHE. IS. MINE!!

Mawthrough made his way through the crowd as they all returned to dancing, and she was left alone without a partner.
Mawthrough walked gently up to her and stood beside, looking up into the night.
"My lady," he said softly, as he reached up and removed the mask from her face, "such beauty should not be marred by any disguise. Tell me, are you some apparition sent to taunt my senses, to mock my concepts of loveliness and charm? If so, I fear you have ruined me for any other lady..."

Then a sudden cold chill hit him, right in the spine as a thought hit him VERY hard.
...
...
...
...Sweet Lucifer. I... I meant that.

He shook it off and looked at her. "What brings you to this ball, my wild desert flower? Surely a beautiful woman such as yourself has something better to do with her time than tease the commoners...?" he said, taking off his mask and looking at her, raising an eyebrow with a smirk.

Grey stopped within Salamencia, and looked at his watch. "Midnight, tis the time for the next championship match, might as well go watch." He opened up a green portal, using a strange device, and walked through, arriving in the stands, to a massive, city sized Coliseum, one built for battle, and for observation. Surrounding the massive area of battle, there was a barrier, strong enough to repel even white dragon flame, and keep the combatants, and the viewers, separate. In the central area, a group of five fighters, each donning crimson and black armor, awaited the champions, awaiting their inevitable fight. Grey had watched many battles, but had fought in few within this place, though he had lost none. Dumb luck, and skillful preparation were the key to his victories. He silently awaited the champions, knowing that when they came to fight the challengers, the challengers would bleed like all the rest. In order to challenge the best, one needed as many victories in a row within the Coliseum, or to be challenged personally by the champions.

Rein looked towards the monastery
"if he would have just told me the monastery i would have made it here myself"
she shook her head
"now then im going to have to gain trust in order to get close enough to the girl to do the job. but first"
she looked down at her fancy clothing
"these certainly wont do for a monastery"
as she said this her red dress started to change on her body taking form of a plain red dress, a cloak formed on her as well to allow the affect that she had been traveling for a while to get to the monastery
"this should work"
she started to make her way towards the monastery her red eyes started to change into blue eyes
"almost forgot to change my eye color as well, that would have been a dead giveaway that i was a demon"
she approached the door and knocked, she cleared her throat awaiting for someone to answer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
chastity was watching the crowd of dancers, dance around the room having the time of their life. but then she heard a voice speak to her and her mask was removed from her face. she turned her attention to the man who had removed her mask, she gave a sly smile, speaking innocently
" sir, i have done nothing to you. so how could i have ruined you for other women?"
she reached out grabbing her mask from him
"as for my purpose in being here for the ball"
she looked up at his masked face
"well, who wouldnt want to be here?"
she looked at the crowd again
"everyone is smiling, dancing and having the time of their life, enjoying the company of others"
she looked back at him
"everyone is here to have fun, the same reason i am here, i had nothing else to do this evening so i decided to come here and join the 'commoners' as you call them and have a bit of fun myself.. as for my teasing, well"
she looked back at the crowd, she noticed a man across the room looking at her, he gave her a wink and she smiled back at him batting her eyes, a woman saw what the man did then looked over at chastity then bak at the man realizing what he was doing. the woman apparently being his wife. she suddenly stormed towards him slapped him across the face and dragged him out of the room yelling at him, chastity giggled at the scene
"i cant help that the men here, dont know how to contain themselves"
she smirked then looked back at him as he had taken his mask of, she couldnt help but to gaze at his face for a moment, when she realized what she was doing she cleared her throat and turned her gaze back towards the crowd but every once in a while glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes
"what bring you here to mingle with such commoners?  

Cecil was still sitting in front of Zigera's door. He noticed there wasn't much movement or noise, But no suspicion was raised she had to still be in the room, he could hear her breathing. He heard the knock initially on the monastery but paid no mind to it, It wasn't his job to open the door for people. Cecil relaxed his shoulders. Ear still pressing against the door.

Zigera felt as though someone was listening in, and she didn't like that. She walked over to the door, traced the door with her finger, then, upon finding the area with the most resistance, she stepped back, and sent her leg right into that spot, causing the door to fly open.

Paying no mind to Zigera hellish behavior, the lead priest walked right by, and headed for the door to the monastery. Opening it, he spotted a young woman, in a plain dress. "May I help you, its not often young girls choose to come here."

Grey's patience paid off, as a few moments later, ten fighters entered the ring around the others. The champion team, or rather, any team, could be made up of one to fifty fighters, the only issue, is that the more fighters there were on the team, the less the money reward, and the less fame they would receive for their victories. However, these champions cared only for the bloodshed, the carnage, the chance to destroy their enemies, to bathe in blood, to dance the dance of death.

Cecil wasn't exactly launched from the door, he was standing up once he heard footsteps. The door still hit his head. He moved away enough to unsheathe his blade and press it against her neck almost impaling but there was only enough force to make breathing difficult.

"I strongly advise you not to do that again. It would be in both of our best interest. Make my job easy, And I'll make your life easy. We could be great friends and you can tell me what you want in confidence or you can be my enemy and hate each other while I listen in. Either way, I won't be changing my guarding technique."

Elerai Saw a massive coliseum in front of him, He had been sprinting for a few hours trying to make it to a new town just to be active and fit. Upon doing so he walked into the coliseum and sat down next to the figure watching the fights.

"Any competitors that are even able to take on the champions this year?"

Grey didn't even turn to look at the man who spoke to him, he simply answered, "None........." As the fight began.  The five challengers in the center of the Coliseum were elementalists, each of a different kind, all to compliment each others abilities. The fighting area went black with shadow though, as the ten champions rose their arms, and began to manipulate the reality of the battle area, began to turn the entire place into their shadowy playground. "You have as many victories in a row as the champions to face them, you must also be willing to annihilate them when you fight them, lest you die. I've fought here, I've only won ten victories in a row so far, though I've only fought ten matches.  This Coliseum, its a realm of its own, created by an entity in the ancient days of knights, where disputes could be settled without reprecussions."

Zigera's demonic eyes flashed, "I have no friends. I have bastard watchers, and I have something inside of me that tears at my very humanity. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go clean the firearms, like I'm suppose to at this time." She walked right past him, her throat getting scratched by the weapon, only to stop when she noticed the lead priest talking to a girl at the door. The girl looked different from all the others in the monastery.  Her demonic eyes met with the eyes of the girl, before she continued on toward where the firearms were kept.

The priest sighed, "Yes, she does give us quite a bit of trouble, and we could use more than our current guards. We could use someone to stay with her, since the last girl ended up going insane." He turned and pointed to Zigera, whom was walking steadily away, "That's the girl, the pay is five hundred a day, not that bad to babysit, right?"

When he saw her teasing the hapless man, desire for her almost overwhelmed his mind.
She would taste so good...

He stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the crowd, his eyes locking with hers.
"Your beauty, your grace, your smile - no other woman could match you. I will never -"
WHAT ON EARTH AM I SAYING!? Keep it together, man...
" -manage to find a woman as..."
His breath caught in his throat.
"...enchanting... as you."

He reached out a hand.
"And to answer your question, my lady... I am here to tease-"
Suddenly, he leaned in and kissed her lips - she tasted of spicy sweetness - then stepped back, laughing and holding out his hand.
"...and, to dance."
His eyes met hers and he was captivated.
"Please... sweet angel... will you dance with me?"

Cecil wiped the blood off the tip of his sword with the sheathe and placed it back in. He turned on his heels and followed behind the girl. There was no fear in him even though she was a demon. Cecil checked his pistols. They were clean, and haven't been used for a while it seems. A whole 52 Hours. It felt like forever for him though. Finally, He decided to speak.

"So, What exactly is your story. Truthfully I dont expect you to like me, Especially considering we are technically opposing forces. But that doesn't mean we cannot be civil."

Elerai focused in on the battle, though not particularly convinced that the championship team was as powerful as the hype lead everyone to believe.

"10 Victories. Why dont you compete with a team. There isn't any possible way to win it all by yourself." He exhaled and quickly switched subject. " I have won about 13 fights here. All in a row, But. I have an unfair advantage. I was trained by the best fighters in the Marines. I joined the armed forces a long while ago. And graduated top of my class. To win a war you need to know your enemy."

He settled into the chair and relaxed as the fight started.

The priest crossed his arms, "Well....." He pointed to Zigera's room, "You'll be staying with her, there's plenty of beds, and there's quite a view out the window. The girl doesn't seem to like anything here, but that's to be expected. She is however, a fan of guns, and so we gave her the job of cleaning them, however, we don't allow her to clean the ammunition.  Xenon came to us with the child, said she contained something evil, and we needed to keep her here. As long as she lives here, the evil inside of her cannot escape, and it cannot wreak havoc.  She's not a very happy person, and sometimes, physical violence is the only way to correct her." He also pointed to the new guard, "He's here to make sure she doesn't escape, so you'll be working with him technically, we also have six elementalist knights to keep her in line."

Zigera sat down, and quickly took apart an old .45 colt in less than ten seconds, all the pieces of the weapon laid out before her, she quickly took her cleaning kit from her bag, and got to work.  "They took me from my mother at birth, I've been here all my life, my body is riddled with scars from their 'lessons', not much else to tell. I'm a knight who was born with this fucking cursed thing inside of me. I don't sleep, my body won't let me. They had a doctor examine my blood, apparently, I have a never-ending river of adrenaline flowing through me. What's worse, it just makes being here worse.  They put a seal inside of me, and every time that thing gets angry, my ribs feel like they've each been shattered, and I'm suppose to hold it back as well." She continued cleaning the weapon.

Grey shook his head, "I have to fight alone, because whenever I fight with others, it doesn't end well." As he spoke these words, his hand clenched around a small locket, "Besides, my style of battle usually requires me to be alone. I can line up multiple fighters, I can use the shadows for split second escapes, but other than that, my skills and my weapons are all I have.  A powerless knight, that title alone gives me the ability to take down each and every one of my foes who underestimate me." He tapped Midnight, his gunblade, "Careful planning, and decisive action, those are what win fights.....unless of course, you've the power the champions have......" He looked into the Coliseum, "They have over five hundred victories in a row, and those people they are battling, they just barely reached that many victories, and we're about to witness their deaths......"  Blades of shadow shot out around the elementalists. One used a shield of light to hold back the bulk of the blades, but the barrage was endless, until finally, two made it through, and 'disarmed' the holy elementalist, the young man falling to the ground, blood spurting from the stubs that used to be his arms.

Mawthrough laughed, then pulled her into the crowd.

Instantly he felt completely and totally exhilarated - here was the passion he had been longing for - she danced like a phoenix.
"To answer your question," he said in her ear as they waltzed like a firestorm around the floor, their bodies together, their faces inches apart - the urge to taste her again was overwhelming -"I cannot imagine a more lovely image in the world. You are the new face of my dreams."

He dipped her, stole another kiss, smirked, took off her mask and his own and hurled them away into the crowd, before reeling her back up and they span away again.
"And you're no sweet angel alright - your eyes speak of fire and power and strength beyond your delicate features. You seem feisty, and -"
Another kiss.
"I LIKE feisty..."

He suddenly felt a romantic pulse, unfelt before within him, and he slowed down, so they were gently rocking together in the middle of the floor.
"My name's Mawthrough," he said softly, looking straight into her eyes, the purple shining against the burning amber.
"Tell me your name, my lady..."

"Colt .45, I haven't seen that weapon in ages, Reliable. But I was always a fan of Ruger, Springfield Armory, and Smith & Wesson." Upon sharing maybe a similar like with the girl. He stopped and spoke again. " So you've been here your whole life. Knowingly that a demon may live inside of you. A rough thing to imagine something that would be hard to live through. Normally the adrenaline would help cope with the pain... Do, Do you think you'll ever be able to control it?"

As she was cleaning the .45 he unholstered one of his ACP's. Unloaded the clip and took the bullet out of the chamber, clicking it on safety. He wrapped his hand around the muzzle end, and put his hand out. So she could grab the gun to look at.

"I never got your name, If you wish to tell me someday you may, But if you turn around I have something for you to check out, You don't even have to clean it if you dont want too."

Cecil gave a genuine smile to her. As she was a victim of circumstance. And in a sense, he understood the pain she was going through.

Elerai was entertained slightly by the fight. But not enough interested.

"I truly never enjoyed the coliseum after joining the armed forces. It just glorified violence, After you've seen A child killed just for going out by himself it changes your perspective. I only faught because my friends were in debt at the time and needed money, They placed their bets on me, I ended up winning. They paid off their debts. I hate to say, But civilaztion isn't as civil as we perceive, we still have places to go for violence."

Elerai reached his hand out to the right for a handshake to his new acquaintance

"My name is Sanctimonious, pleasure to meet you."

Grey kept watching the fight, as the young, flaming elementalist, got her throat slit, "I'm Grey, I fight here because it eases my pain. I haven't killed any of my opponents yet, I don't plan too, not unless I reach the championship match. They will die if I reach them."   Grey's weapon surged a little, "Plus, if I become the champion, I may be able to change the rules around here, about killing during matches.......that won't be for a while though......." As he said that, the water elementalist was pinned to the barrier near them, his head continually slammed into it by a tendril of shadow.

Zigera sighed, "If I had a demon inside of me, it could simply be exercised, and I would have been returned. No.....there's something....far worse inside of me......they call it.....Oblivion......." Her hands shook as she set the firearm in her hands down, then picked up a .357 magnum, deassembling it in seconds. "Oblivion is an entity, and the only way to defeat one of those, is to kill the host, only....that just sends it to another child being born, and then another child....and then another child.....and the cycle goes on and on........." She set the weapon down, and looked to the window, before looking back at the man, and grabbing his weapon. She examined it for a moment, then handed it back, "An interesting piece of metal, though I prefer revolvers to be honest. I don't have an issue with the kick, and I prefer using one accurate shot, to using several semi accurate shots. My teacher here, he taught me a sort of fighting, he calls it, Hojutsu Ryo-Kata, others just refer to it as Gun Fu, but despite the name, its a good way to relieve stress."  She stood up, and walked to the window, standing in front of it, staring out into the verizon. Speaking calmly, she said, "My name is Zigera by the way."

The priest nodded, "Her name is Zigera, and I suppose that would be best. Some advice, don't stand in the dark when she enters the room, also, she....never sleeps.......best to get used to that behavior from her......."

"The Springfield .45 ACP was designed for accuracy which is why I like it. Has the stopping power to take on a large animal all the while being accurate enough to hit right on target. It's the only guns I rely on. I named each of the pistols after my wife and kid. Unfortunately, neither are alive today, they were both brutally murdered. I wasn't even there to stop it." there was a genuine depression in Cecil's voice when he spoke about it. When he got his pistol back he reloaded it and holstered it again. He felt sympathy towards Zigera.

"My name is Cecil. We started off on a relatively negative stance earlier and I apologize. However I was hired to watch
and listen to you." Stopping speech for a moment he noticed she enjoyed watching the outside world he figured she didn't really have many experiences out there. But she could want to actually experience it. "Maybe one day you could go out there. if you can ever learn to control that thing called Oblivion. If you do wish, When you're locked in the room. I can talk to you beyond the door. However I would have to write down what I'm saying. I can burn it though. Luckily." Though Zigera was dressed properly he couldn't help but to notice there were some scars that were visible. On her neck is the main part be saw them.

"How did you get those scars?"

Elerai stopped watching the fighting as it was more so barbaric instead of interesting. It seemed the champions would be victorious this year anyway. "Well, It is a humble goal to try and attain. However it may not be worth it. The popularity of the colisuem and the bloodshed really gets people going. Though I support your want for change."

Elerai moved his hand away as Grey seemed to be too absorbed in the fighting to really notice him. However the conversations were plentiful.

"So, How old are you?"

Grey looked outward as the water elementalist was brutally torn to shreds, and the last two elementalists were cornered by their ten opponents, "I'm seventeen....and my goal isn't a humble one. I also wish to prove that just because the council made me powerless, that I'm strong enough to defeat any challenge that comes my way." The champions were toying with that last two surviving opponents.

Zigera placed her hand over the scar to feel it. "Escape attempts, having a foul mouth, kitchen accidents, having a gun backfire on me, a lot of stuff caused these injuries........" An extremely powerful pulse shot out throughout her body, shaking the room, causing an immense amount of pain as she hit the floor, clenching her rib cage, "Dammit.....that thing just doesn't give up........" She stayed on the floor for an entire minute before standing up. "I hate that freaking thing......always doing that just to cause me pain......."

"Zigera." Cecil said in a soothing tone to her. To show no animosity towards her. "Would you like me to carry you back to your room, in case another pain like you've been experiencing happens again."

Elerai had stood up as what was going on in the arena was drawn out to him.

"Well, I fare you well on your travels. If you ever need help, I will be around."

As Grey sat there, a dark aura emminated from him, "Sure....for now......I wait.....my match is next......." He looked to Midnight as the remaining combatants were executed, their heads held high by the champions.

Zigera, angry for some reason, brushed past him, the mere force of her moving past him surprising for one like her, and walked rapidly to her room, before entering it, and slamming the door shut. She quietly crawled onto her bed, and laid down. She didn't say a word, she just sat there, the pulses returning moments later, bringing her to tears almost.

The priest spoke quietly, "The last person to approach her in the dark, well, they lost a limb, she gets overly frightened in the dark, that's why her room is normally lit twenty four seven, since she can't sleep." The priest handed the girl a food tray, which was a large amount of eggs, with home cooked biscuits, cooked sausage, hashbrowns, and fruit slices. "Here's yours and her meal, hopefully she'll be coaxed into a better mood......" He noticed her slamming her door shut. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go lead the others in prayer." He walked away from the girl.

Cecil really didn't know how to respond to zigera's outburst. Instead of doing anything he walked back over to her door. Sitting down in front of it he put his ear against the door again. However he didn't really listen. He just zoned out and out of his peripherals he noticed a girl beginning to walk towards the room.

Oot: Don't worry, He will eventually move.

Feeling sick, Zigera pulled a pan up off the floor and vomitted into it. Moments later, she looked into it to notice she had vomitted blood into it, causing her to go pale. Surprisingly, she was able to set the pan down without much effort, though it was tough for her to move now. She simply sat on her bed, looking to the door, not knowing what the day would bring.

As the middle of the Coliseum cleared, and the barrier dispersed, Grey jumped down into it. He started walking toward the center, and as he did, three combatants approached him. He drowned out the noise of the announcer as he approached these men. What he didn't tell the stranger, was he had five matches scheduled in a row today. He held Midnight, and awaited the beginning of the match, as the board began to show the next ten matches, five of them, Grey's.