Final check-in: Front C - Meladarai/Vivilia

The room is deathly silent.

She stands with an expression without emotion. Her gaze is vacant, like a ghost--pale skin, hair as white as a winter's first snow. Black ribbons tie her locks into long pigtails. Like a proper scientist, she's garbed in lab coat, which is unbuttoned and to the length of her thighs. Beneath is a black button-up top, which matches the pencil skirt she wears below. White stockings reach up to just beneath, from the dark flats she wears on her feet. A finger on her right hand wears a beautiful obsidian ring, and around her opposite wrist is a bracelet of gold and tiny jewels. Her attention remains locked on the one across from her, even ignoring the three others present.

Vivi stares back, albeit with weaker composure. Face-to-face with her sister, she isn't sure what to say. Much comes to her mind, though nothing escapes. She stands there with her pointed black cap, and the short skirt with triangular cuts that really give her the image of an adorable witch, though on her face is only sadness and confusion. Beneath said skirt are her thigh-high boots trimmed with orange, and decorated by the tiny faces of cats. And next to her is another sight one from Earth would mistake for a Halloween costume--Mela.

The banshee looks much like an elf in most regards. Her ears come to long pointed tips, and she has a natural beauty, from her face, to her shoulder-length flowing blue hair, to her slender legs, though of course her complexion somewhat that of a pale doll given it's merely a puppet she possesses. Still, it wears glasses as she did in life, and one could be easily fooled from a distance. She looks between the two siblings, also unsure of what to say.

Both others present are on the side of the enemy--Ariusia the mantidae insectrin, and Anastasia Phairgem the cleric from Varat.

Like the last time, Anastasia is garbed in modest armour, armed with a shield and mace. On her hip is a golden censer, and rolling down her head is beautiful, incredibly vibrant red hair. She's the first one you hear speak. "You will not proceed any further." Her hand on the shaft of her mace squeezes tight. "By word of Lady Breiah, we will make certain this is as far as you'll ever proceed. I swear this, on the Church of Lasis."

Ariusia is a dangerous foe, with an additional set of arms extending from around her back which come to bladed edges like natural swords. Her tongue rolls over her upper teeth, and around her vampire-like fanged canines. Just as the other times you've seen her, she'd dressed in what's effectively a black one piece swimsuit into fishnet stockings, as well as sharp heels on her feet. Around her left arm is a thick silver chain. Clearly, she's just waiting for the bloodshed, and impatiently at that.

"... Why?" Vivi finally asks, but quietly. She clenches her fist. "Why are you doing all of this, sister? For father? Why do you work for that jerk Elok Daven?"

Breiah watches her sibling silently for a moment before responding. "I work for nobody," she says simply. "When our grandfather first came to Absoterra from the other world called Earth, he began a domino effect that cannot be stopped. Our father's work was brilliant, and his time was cut short. Say what you wish about him otherwise. Either way, I have long since surpassed him. His work is mine, and beyond. I've already completed my first major project."

"Your project is trying to take over the world, and then probably everything beyond."

"His aspirations are rather wild, though that matters little. What I've learned in my time at his side has been indescribably valuable. When all is said and one, I'm certain he will perish, but that also doesn't matter. The first release is never the one that works best."

"You say he's the first, but what about Kyle? William?"

"There were more as well. You're arguing semantics. Elok Daven is my magnum opus, though only so far. I'll never stop, for however many more years I live. Kyle. William. Elok. The ALICEs. The ELISs. Granted, much of the metalwork has been by his hands, though all that's truly impressive about him has come from my own mind. The brilliance of our family. Yet you're the one squandering your gift, sister. No matter what I've done in the past, you continued to rot away in that forest, alone."

"I'm not alone any longer. And... even though all this has happened, I still want to offer you something. Forgiveness? I don't know. But we already lost Callisto. You're the only one I have left in this world with my blood. That doesn't have to define family, but--"

"You've come too far for mere words. Fight to the end if you wish. I'll be waiting." With her hands behind her back, she turns around and begins to walk towards the door behind the others--heels of her shoes clicking against the white tiled floor in an otherwise quiet chamber.

Vivi reaches out. "Wait!" But before she can even think about casting a spell, an attack comes her way.

Ariusia is fast. She throws her chain forward, wrapping it around Vivi's left arm in a painful bind. She heaves her closer at the same time she vaults forwards, though just before she's able to slice the poor witch open with the blade from her back, her prey speaks a word and disappears into a mist of sparkles. The mantis hisses, turning around with a peering gaze to seek out the bug she hunts.

"Over here!" Anastasia shouts, turning to Vivi on the opposite side of the room, near the door.

"Close one," Vivi mutters. Her eyes turn to the knob of the door, but then back to her opponents.

The mantis-girl lowers herself into a readied stance--sharped appendages wrapping around her back to aim forwards. "You dare try and run?"

"... No. I'm not going to abandon Mela," Vivi responds. "Don't underestimate me, and definitely don't underestimate her."

Thud! Both opponents turn to see the girl in question fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Er. Did she faint?" Ariusia mutters.

"No!" shouts the cleric. "Don't you know? She's actually--"

Vivi is already plugging her ears when the scream happens. Mela, the terrifying vengeful spirit, rises up from beneath them and unleashes a mind-shaking screech. Such a noise from a banshee is enough to send most into instant unconsciousness. The two women grab their heads--ears plugged too late--and wince in pain as they struggle to see. It's as if a necrotic **** is pulling the life energy from their bodies. Behind them, the banshee floats with eyes filled with terror. No longer is she the cute scholarly elf she was before.

"That's my cue," Vivi says to herself. As a transmuter, she's a mage not to be messed with. That makes her an elite class after all. Not only that, but she's older than anyone at Castle Phoenix, even Cat the vampire. While some of what Breiah said is true, in that she somewhat rotted away along with her gift in a cottage for many years, she's since risen from the ashes of her previous phase and has now become a mighty witch of Castle Phoenix. She throws her hand forward and calls out the magic word, "Polymorph!" as she locks eyes with Ariusia. A menacing grin spreads across the witch's face.

"Huh--" The mantis is caught by surprise. She turns, glancing past the banshee to the magic overtaking her. It's too late to fight back, and her mind is still weakened by the ghostly ****. The spell envelopes her body, and in moments, she poofs! After the glittering cloud swiftly parts, all that's left beside Anastasia is an adorable woolly sheep.

"Ah, no! No!" Anastasia steps back. She clenches her teeth and looks up to Mela as she raises her mace towards the ceiling. "I won't be defeated by the same abomination I faced last time. Take this, the power of my light... Bind Undead!" Her body pulses with a vibrant light. Golden white swirls up the shaft of her mace, and around the head into a beacon of divinity. The spell works quickly, and in a matter of seconds, rings of holy might bind themselves around the floating body of the banshee.

Mela screams, this time not with the power of a banshee, but with the fear of a frightened girl. She struggles to move, but is locked in place above the battle. Energy surges through her like electric shocks. The halos which bind her seem to be causing her pain as well, in a manner only understood by a ghost.

Vivi grumbles. She raises her hands once more, but as she does, a mace swings by her face.

"I won't let you cast another spell, mage," Anastasia states. "I may have a caster class as well, but I've been trained in the art of the mace. Where's your armour? You dress in a skirt so short that when you leap away from my strikes, I can see your..." The girl shakes the thought out of her head. "Ridiculous!"

"I can wear whatever I want!" Vivi shouts as she disengages as best she can. "Skirt or not, dress how you wanna. I think I look super cute in this. And if you disagree, then it's no wonder you're on the villain's side. I really wonder how the Church of Lasis would think about you following a Demon King. Though from what I've heard, maybe that's not so strange."

"You dare insult Lasis? You don't know anything about the position I'm in... and it isn't Elok Daven I follow. Lady Breiah is your sister. You should respect her more."

"Baa," says the sheep.