[Amelia sees Monika, and waves as she approaches... before they're suddenly intercepted by some pig noise!]
MEMORY: HELLMASTER
You're in a broad, rounded room, and before you stands a small boy. One would be forgiven for thinking he was a harmless child, but you know him to be something much more sinister. He is not only a pure demon, but a lord among demons, and perhaps the most powerful in the world.
Despite the fact that you are trapped in the clutches of Hellmaster Phibrizzo in his Palace of Hell, you slam one fist against your waist and point at the boy confidently. "No matter how much power you possess, no glory will ever come to Evil! Know that with the Fires of Justice that burn within each of us, the day your scheme is realized is eternally postponed!"
"This 'Justice' you're always talking about," he says to you. "You mean human justice, right? We demons think returning the world to nothingness is justice."
"It's useless to try to trick me with nonsense!" you shoot back. "A heart that believes in Justice will never stray from the path!"
"Nonsense? We're two sides of the same coin. You want existence; we, destruction. That's the difference between us." He crosses his arms. "You might say that there are a lot of inconsistencies to our demonic existence. But nothingness has nothing but nothing itself. We choose a very consistent, perfect system of complete darkness -- that's what makes us Mazoku."
You don't even blink. "I said I'm not listening! Besides! If you want destruction, why don't you destroy yourselves!? No one will mind!"
Hellmaster sighs. "You just don't get it. We don't just want destruction for us, we want it for everything. It doesn't mean anything unless the world itself is destroyed. Not that I really expected you to understand. We don't understand why you want to continue existing... there's been that fundamental gap in our understanding all along."
Your companion, a man with skin of stone, shifts his stance. "Then we'll have to settle this by force," he concludes darkly.
"Right." Phibrizzo perks up. "But to be honest, it's stupid to fight you head on; I'd just blast you to bits before you could chant a single spell. Since that's boring and lame, want to play a game instead?"
You pause. "Game?"
"Sure. The rules are simple: both of you face me and attack, and I can't do anything but defend. I won't even touch you. If you can destroy me, you win; if you can't, I win."
"And if we lose, we die."
Phibrizzo laughs and shakes his head. "If you lose," he says simply, "you'll know that humans can't beat me. That's enough for me."
You shake out an arm, then point at Phibrizzo. "Fine! You'll regret your reckless, overconfident speech soon enough!" you shout, with no sense of irony.
You both start chanting spells. Phibrizzo, creepily enough, looks almost giddy to take them.
No use in pulling any punches. You start with the most powerful magic in your repertoire, the mightiest in all of shamanism: "Ra Tilt!"
But your spell doesn't activate.
"Huh!?" You take a step back, shock written on your face. Phibrizzo just gives you a boyish smile.
"I don't need to defend against something that small. I can just think about neutralizing your spell's power, and poof! No activation."
That wasn't just your strongest spell. It was one of the strongest spells known to humankind.
...
There's no backing down from this fight. You prepare your next spell, and charge ahead.
[Despite how dire that memory is when it cuts off, Amelia mostly just looks confused.]
He wanted us to try and fail and lose hope, so that a friend of ours would be compelled to call forth a power so immense, it could destroy the entire world. Then he'd seize that moment to kill her, ensuring that she lost control of it.
But that power had a mind of its own, and it decided to destroy just him instead.
Week 7, Tuesday
Despite the fact that you are trapped in the clutches of Hellmaster Phibrizzo in his Palace of Hell, you slam one fist against your waist and point at the boy confidently. "No matter how much power you possess, no glory will ever come to Evil! Know that with the Fires of Justice that burn within each of us, the day your scheme is realized is eternally postponed!"
"This 'Justice' you're always talking about," he says to you. "You mean human justice, right? We demons think returning the world to nothingness is justice."
"It's useless to try to trick me with nonsense!" you shoot back. "A heart that believes in Justice will never stray from the path!"
"Nonsense? We're two sides of the same coin. You want existence; we, destruction. That's the difference between us." He crosses his arms. "You might say that there are a lot of inconsistencies to our demonic existence. But nothingness has nothing but nothing itself. We choose a very consistent, perfect system of complete darkness -- that's what makes us Mazoku."
You don't even blink. "I said I'm not listening! Besides! If you want destruction, why don't you destroy yourselves!? No one will mind!"
Hellmaster sighs. "You just don't get it. We don't just want destruction for us, we want it for everything. It doesn't mean anything unless the world itself is destroyed. Not that I really expected you to understand. We don't understand why you want to continue existing... there's been that fundamental gap in our understanding all along."
Your companion, a man with skin of stone, shifts his stance. "Then we'll have to settle this by force," he concludes darkly.
"Right." Phibrizzo perks up. "But to be honest, it's stupid to fight you head on; I'd just blast you to bits before you could chant a single spell. Since that's boring and lame, want to play a game instead?"
You pause. "Game?"
"Sure. The rules are simple: both of you face me and attack, and I can't do anything but defend. I won't even touch you. If you can destroy me, you win; if you can't, I win."
"And if we lose, we die."
Phibrizzo laughs and shakes his head. "If you lose," he says simply, "you'll know that humans can't beat me. That's enough for me."
You shake out an arm, then point at Phibrizzo. "Fine! You'll regret your reckless, overconfident speech soon enough!" you shout, with no sense of irony.
You both start chanting spells. Phibrizzo, creepily enough, looks almost giddy to take them.
No use in pulling any punches. You start with the most powerful magic in your repertoire, the mightiest in all of shamanism: "Ra Tilt!"
But your spell doesn't activate.
"Huh!?" You take a step back, shock written on your face. Phibrizzo just gives you a boyish smile.
"I don't need to defend against something that small. I can just think about neutralizing your spell's power, and poof! No activation."
That wasn't just your strongest spell. It was one of the strongest spells known to humankind.
...
There's no backing down from this fight. You prepare your next spell, and charge ahead.
... Huh? That's still happening?
no subject
[and she looks so annoyed about it. though, more importantly, she looks at amelia in concern after a beat—]
But, um, that looked... pretty dire. Did you win?
no subject
In the end, we couldn't really land a scratch on him... I guess what saved us in the end was, like... divine intervention?
no subject
So someone showed up just in time to rescue you? Or do you mean, like, rocks fell and he died or something?
no subject
But that power had a mind of its own, and it decided to destroy just him instead.
no subject
Oh, I think I'd just call that karmic retribution.