week three: trial

[cyclists]

Week Three: Trial
22 in Competition

It may be difficult to sleep with the light shining so brightly throughout the night, but the participants can rest easy knowing they will not be plagued by unwanted, disturbing dreams. Early the next day, a bell chimes and all will feel compelled to enter the main meeting hall.

The hall looks mostly the same as it always has, the two thrones for Lune and Sol at the head of the room and scrolls hanging from the walls. The metal box sits on a table near the front, along with the glass boxes perfectly centered before the benches in the room. Now that the trial is in session, Swift Wind and Hisoka's coffins are open, and their bodies will be available for examination.

Lune and Sol are seated in their thrones, patiently waiting for the last participant to settle. It's only when everyone has gathered that Sol speaks first.

"We've got a lot of ground to cover today. Don't give up."

They stop, glancing at Lune and gesturing for them to say their piece.

"Face the truth directly, and don't turn away from what you may find."

✩★✩

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the fourth trial!

We'll go over a few notes briefly as we will be playing this trial a bit differently than other games.

As noted, there was no investigation period on Friday. However, today participants will have the chance to investigate areas in the game setting as they see fit! This can be done by providing the name of the location you want to visit to the host header comment. To help with the ease of the trial and for IC mechanics, only one location may be visited at a time. In addition, these locations can be manipulated and adjusted upon request to test theories and solve puzzles, so please feel free to ask if you're searching for clues! Your host will also be accompanying you on these visits.

Most importantly, before the trial is over, please place your character's vote over on the voting page. Voting will close at 9pm EST/6pm PST, and will serve as our activity check for the week, so please be sure you get your vote in before it ends unless you have contacted us previously.

If you have any questions at any time, please let do us know by pinging us on Discord! Dana and Ty will be in the chat and available for all questions. Thank you, and have fun!

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Comments

[nonbelligerent]

[...

well, if it insists?

which is to say that as soon as her sentence ends—if even that late—he stabs her.]

[blackcoats]

[ the corruption may have possessed her, but the blood-curling scream that comes from xion's body as shess stabs her is undoubtedly, painfully her own. sorry, lea. however... she doesn't disappear, doesn't die. instead of blood, tendrils of darkness erupt from the wound, floating in the air as xion folds and collapses on the ground. while she regains her sense of self, the dark mass begins to coalesce into a vague blob, eventually settling into a humanoid shape, a familiar body. it's an exact replica of xion, a reflection in the darkness. ]

[nonbelligerent]

[shess doesn't hesitate. after planting the sword in the ground—it's xion's now, if she wants to fight—he withdraws his dagger and rushes forward to attack the darkness.]

[blackcoats]

[ while the real xion is still trying to shake off the last of the corruption's hold on her, the darkness taking her form doesn't have the same hesitation. it extends its hand, and in a swirl of darkness, a keyblade appears, which it uses to deflect shess's attack and attempt to strike back. using the sword that shess had left her (and that she'd also just been stabbed with, it's fine), xion pulls herself back up onto her feet, her blue eye staring at the reflection. ] It... has a keyblade...?

[nonbelligerent]

[who the hell makes a sword in the form of a key, but okay. shess avoids the strike, jumping back so that he's by xion's side.

he can't say anything, but instead places a hand on xion's shoulder. fight.]

[blackcoats]

[ buddy you literally just stabbed her leave her alone. but nah, xion understands it's her duty to face the darkness, so she turns to shess on her good side and nods. ] R-right! [ pulling the sword out of the ground, she runs at the copy and tries to stab it herself. when it jumps out of the way, she lifts her hand and shoots some ice crystals at it as it retreats. ] I'll try to pin it down!

[nonbelligerent]

[he nods, moving around so that he doesn't risk getting in the way of xion's ice crystal as he dashes towards the copy. he goes in for a slash, at the same time he manifests a whip of water in an attempt to knock the keyblade out of its hands.]

[blackcoats]

[ the water whip surprises the darkness enough to successfully disarm it, staggering it slightly. this gives xion time to quickly evaluate what they can do; if the darkness was able to copy her weapon, would it also have copied her fighting style...? hm. ] Shess—wrap your whip around it, and I'll freeze the water!

[nonbelligerent]

[well, all right. he trusts xion has some idea of how to fight herself, so he'll do just that.]

[blackcoats]

[ she sure does—one of her biggest strengths is her agility, so preventing her from moving is the logical move here. it's exactly how she lost her eye, after all. true to her analysis, the copy literally freezes in its tracks as the flash-frozen whip constricts its movement and traps it. to make sure it can't escape, xion summons more shards of ice, this time more spike-like, to pin its coat to the ground. ] ... Do we need to use this sword again to finish purifying it?

[nonbelligerent]

[he shakes his head. pretty sure it's just a normal sword now, so just kill it however to purify it, he imagines.]

[blackcoats]

[ while xion has regained control of her body, the copy has still mostly retained her form. which means, when it speaks from its helpless position, still bound in the icy restraint, its voice is certainly what one would expect from an entity of "corruption"... like xion's put through a filter. ] I̧ don̸'͝t͘ ̧w̢àn͡t́ ͜t̴o d͡i͞é..̧. [ hearing this is enough to give her pause, bringing a hand to her chest, almost like she'd been stabbed... again. ]

[nonbelligerent]

[...

well, if xion isn't going to finish it off, shess will move to stab it instead.]

[blackcoats]

[ shess's stab is pretty decisive. again, the copy borrows xion's voice to let out another piercing screech before its form dissolves into darkness and disappears completely. the real xion is left shaking in place, holding the sword, haunted by the lasting sound of her own death rattle, wondering why she's still here. ]

[nonbelligerent]

[once it's over, shess sheathes his dagger, before placing his hand on xion's shoulder again.

he'll stay like that until axel comes to pick up his daughter, i guess.]