Starless Dusk Pregame

[Daiwa Scarlet]

*Satone ponders for a bit before waving her arm*

"How many times may we complete this quest of lords?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Cessair: "Once. By completing the Clash you will become a Starless Lord. That position is until death. If you fail the clash and don't become a lord, well you are dead, so you aren't able to try again."

-Lennox visibly balks as you are told your lives are on the line-


Lennox: "And? Are you three going to try and hunt us down? We are supposed to survive that?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-Cessair lets out a hearty laugh and responds to Lennox-

Cessair: "No, no! It would be a slaughter as even a weak Starless Lord could easily overpower 17 people! The ones here whom you all have to worry about hurting you are..."


Cessair: "Each other."



Lennox: "W-what?!?"

[Daiwa Scarlet]

*Stands by dumbfound*

[Xaniks]

Downing another shot of vodka, Caster raises an eyebrow at the Overlord's description of the Black Clash.

"Miss Cessair, you imply that this is some sort of battle royal. How... uncivilized.

...Very well, I shall partake in this game. This lot will find me hard to bury."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

Cessair: "This is much more complicated than a battle royale. The exact phrasing escapes me....Itriot? I know you have the texts memorized, would you state the goal of the Clash."

-Cessair asks the question forcefully, demanding that Itriot answer to which he does with vigor after taking one step forward-


Itriot: "The Black Clash is the test laid down by the Starless King to determine who is worthy of the title Starless Lord. In his words, 'To shine in darkness of this city one must be as strong as a star, but one with the Darkness. To achieve Victory in the Black Clash is to be The Star that survives the encroaching darkness.'"

- Itriot takes and step back and stops speaking, leaving the stage back to Cessair-

Cessair: "Those words 'The Star' are important. Your goal is to survive until the end of the Black Clash, however none of us specified how or when the Black Clash ends. I will present explicit rules on how this will work later, but the Clash will conclude when One Participant is Alive and everyone else is Dead. Simply put, of the 17 people here, 16 of you will die in the trial. The survivor will ascend to Starless Lord."

-Cessair lifts her mask slightly so you can see her eyes as she looks around the room-

Cessair: "The rules I will provide lay out how you can cause the death of the others, though there are.... subtleties and exact things that prevent you all from just fighting to the death. Those will be explained in your rule books, which I will place in your individual apartment rooms. Any questions?"

-Lennox, taken aback by the explanation steps forward-


Lennox: "I refuse to participate. I came here with no explanation besides the promise of becoming a lord. This is ridiculous!"

-Lennox moves towards the door and starts attempting to open it, but its shut fast. Some commentary from the others can be heard-

Yoff: "Interesting...."
Owen: "Are the deaths of 16 people truly required?"
Pierrick: "Well that just took all the joy outta the room haha..."

[Daiwa Scarlet]

*Sits by dumbfound*

[King V]

-This witness finally stops clapping and raises a hand. Their face does not change, but everyone nearby still hears their voice-

"Are the deaths of other entities truly required? Those gathered here don't seem to have any ill intent towards one another. I have no reason to kill either. Is there a different way we can go about this?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-Cessair hears Rin's question and glances over at Silver Mask-

Cessair: "Well?"

-You can almost hear the grimace from behind Silver mask's mask-

Silver Mask: "There is none. As soon as you walked through that door you were considered a participant of the Black Clash. If you have any attachment to your life, I would rapidly start preparing for the death of everyone else, even if it isn't at your own hands. This is the trial of all Starless Lords. Myself, Itriot, and Cessair have all participated in the clash and emerged victorious over the other's bodies. Though, obviously, each of us was part of a separate Clash. There has never been an instance where more than one person survived a Clash, so prepare to accept that reality."

-Itriot nods-

Itriot: "Indeed, I myself have reviewed the Clash records public to lords and confirmed it. Whenever a Clash occurs, regardless of the number involved. There is either one survivor, or none."

[Daiwa Scarlet]

*Lays by dumbfound*

[Karenina]

"So... You are telling us that everyone has ended up here just to die? The winner has to be a murderer too..?"


"But... C-Come on! Killing can´t be the only answer right? It´s completely irrational to kill people you´ve never met before just to gain the title of Starless Lord. There must be other methods that can test one worthy or even just quit this Black Clash all together? Testing whenever someone is worthy to be a lord shouldn´t be determined merely by killing! Isn´t that right, Rikka and Shichimiya-"

Yuuta then glances at Satone and finally notices the abnormal silence from her. He carefully pokes her shoulder.


"Shichimiya? Are you alright..? Do you feel sick or anything?"

[Daiwa Scarlet]

*Satone jolts up from the sudden poke*



"Y-yusha! T-this must be the work of the Agency. They've infiltrated this Starless City as well.
Going through with this ritual would just help them bring about the end... p-perhaps we can disrupt it...
But don't worry, I'll protect you. As your master, I will do what I must."

[Satori]

Upon hearing Cessair say that everyone has to kill each other. Rikka tenses up.



"So this is what's all about! This has all been a horrible trap set up by the Starless King to get us to kill each other! This is bad! We are in grave danger Dark Flame Master! We must..."

Rikka is cut short when she sees Yuuta approach Satone. She becomes paranoid and instinctively runs up to Yuuta and tries to pull him away from Satone and holds him close...



"Stay away from her Dark Flame Master! We can't trust her or anyone else here! They are all a threat to us and want to kill us both!"

[Daiwa Scarlet]

*Satone runs up to grab Yuuta's other arm*



"I would never do that to my disciple. Y-you trust me... right yusha?"

[Karenina]

"D-Don´t tug me around you two. Now is not the time for anyone to be enemies! Set aside your 8th Grader Syndromes for a while, will you?"


"Let´s get along now, alright? I will trust you both no matter what. Nibutani-san as well. I know that none of you would ever want to kill!"