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Dergonu

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Blog Entries posted by Dergonu

  1. Dergonu
    Introduction: 
    So I´ve been on this forum for a decent amount of time now, and for those of you who encounter me in the chat you know: I love yuri. And during my many fallouts with Jade and his trap,(Which is evil  ) I post pictures of yuri left and right, most of which are from SonoHana. I realize though that there are people out there who hasn't played these short and plotless  amazing yuri games! Therefore, I will be making a blog post to tell you about something that no one should go their life without playing! Before I get started, do note that a lot of these games are translated, with only the newest releases remaining untranslated, BUT! These are fan translations, and the company releasing these games have shown dissatisfaction with the fan translations due to piracy. (There was a way to get the entire game extracted from the patch alone.) Because of this, please make sure you BUY THE GAME LEGALLY before installing a translation patch for these games. (Information on where to buy the games is in the bottom of the post, however, due to their bad reputation, links to the patches will NOT be in this post. Please use the google no-jutsu for that)
    This is NOT the case for remembering how we met, which is the ONLY licensed translation as of right now. Hopefully this will change in the future  
     
    Ok so, I am talking about Sono hanabira ni kuchizuke o, a yuri VN franchise which has been releasing games for years now. Writers have come and gone, but the games have still remained somewhat the same, introducing a lesbian couple going to school at an all girls high school for daughters from rich families. The norm has been that each couple gets a minimum of 2 games, with some exceptions being released later on. 
    The games are rather short, cute and fluffy. Its primarily just about the two main characters, and other characters rarely even have sprites in the early games. (Yes I´m looking at you guys, class mate-A, class mate-B) This however, changes towards the newer games, where most characters have sprites and there are more CGs and voice acting from others than just the main characters. 
    Their short length and small amount of content aside, there is still something that makes these games very enjoyable, (except the yuri H-scenes ) and that is the characters and their interactions. I already talked about this a little bit in my previous blog post about sonohana nyuu jene, but I realize that if one haven't played previous games, you won't be able to relate to much I say in that one. 
    And so! 
    The characters and story
    The characters in Sono Hanabira ni kuchizuke o are wonderful. Each one of the couples offer a set of unique and colorful characters. (Unique as in different from each other, not in a general sense. I know a tsundere isn't very unique characteristic in a visual novel.) 
    Among the many, many couples who have been introduced, we are going to be looking at, Yuuna x Nanami, the first couple introduced in the franchise, and Hazuki x Manami, one of the latest couples. The reason I´m doing this, thereby omitting a lot of the couples in the middle, is simply because of the first and the last aspect, and not because I like the others less or anything. (Though it does have to be said, these two are some of my favorites.) Which couple you will end up liking the most will be different for everyone. Each one of them has their own characteristics that makes you like them. (Or not like them. Though lets face it, no one dislikes yuri. Right?) 
     
    Let us start with Yuuna x Nanami, and the first Sono hana game released. 
    It came out in 2006, and tells the story of the cute, silly little Nanami who comes to a school way out of her comfort zone. Its a school filled with oujousama´s (daughters of rich families), and she really doesn't feel like she fits in. Her first day starts of bad as her uniform rips and she ends up hiding behind the school building, not going into the reception ceremony. Then, her guardian angel, the beautiful onee-sama Yuuna walks up and asks her if she needs help. She then goes on to patch up Nanami´s skirt. Instantly lovestruck, the next few months of Nanami´s life are dedicated trying to get into a planning committee where Yuuna is the leader. She wants to get closer to her onee-sama, and well, thats where the love aspect of the game beings. I won't spoil too much of the very small amount of story in the game, and will instead speak in a general way about the game. 
    Yuuna and Nanami start dating, and have to deal with issues in school and between each other. There is a simple choice system that will lead to either incomplete endings, or the true end which is quite cute. 
    The rest of the games that follow are made in a similar trend. Girl meets girl, couple meets X issue(s), try to resolve them together, happy end. The games are fairly short, about 5+ hours of reading if you listen to all the dialogue and 2 hours or so if you skip it as soon as the text is read. The games do vary a bit in length, and some later releases do have an increased length, (for example Nyuu Jene comes out over 10 hours,) but for the most part the games are fairly similar in this regard. 
     
    Moving over to Hazuki x Manami, we have a fairly different setting from Nanami x Yuuna. This couple is introduced in the 19th installment of the series, Nyuu Jene, which I´ve made a blog post on already here: 

    The character´s troubles are essentially the opposite of Yuuna x Nanami, but the actual characters Nanami and Hazuki are fairly similar. The reason I bring this up, other than them being the first and last couples, is to make a point; the characters have kind of been re-used at this point, (lets face it, Hazuki and Nanami are very similar.) But despite this the games are very different and the couple´s "worries" or what have you doesn't feel repeated at all. This is another factor that makes the SonoHana games enjoyable despite their short and "plotless" nature. 
     
    Navigation through the many titles; how does it work?
    So, lets take a break from the story and the characters and talk a little about how to navigate through these games. It might look a little overwhelming and confusing, seeing as there are so many titles and the couples are in seemingly random orders. (Kind of...) 
    So far there are 20 games in the franchise. The games have little in common with each other, except A) games that are with a previously introduced couple, working kind of like a sequel, (example games 1 and 6 being yuuna x Nanami, 2 and 4 being Sara x Kaede) B) Games released after Nyuu Jene; These games seem to have the same characters repeated, at least for the moment, and all works as sequels. (After the next 3 are released, this might change. No word on those games are out as of yet.) Other than that, you can just pick a couple you like and play it, which means, YES, you CAN start with, lets say game nr. 3 then play 5 to get its sequel, and go back to lets say 1 and then play 6. Its pretty much just about finding the individual game´s sequel. 
    To make figuring out exactly which game offers what couples simple, literally just look it up on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sono_Hanabira_ni_Kuchizuke_o - Do note that this list currently does not have Revolution - Rinagisa (the newest game) listed, but this is a sequel to Nyuu Jene and offers Rina x Nagisa, but with the other characters as supportive characters with a role in the story. This will probably be added soon though. EDIT: Due to a strange edit on wikipedia, they have removed some of the newer games from the list ... Really don't know why. But if you display the page in Japanese instead, all 21 games are there. The games from 1-15 are on the English list.
    Do note that the newest games, Nyuu Jene and the rest after are UNTRANSLATED, and have no fan translations as of yet. 
     
    Conclusion; why should you play these games and where to get them
     
    So, why should you play these games? There are many rom-com slice of life games out there, and to be honest I cant really sell why this should be prioritized over the others without mentioning yuri. Damnit. Well, these games are short, simple, but still offer very enjoyable characters and relationships; they are pretty much getting right to the point without beating around the bush with an incredibly long common route and a bunch of filler characters that has little to do with the story. If you are looking for a short, cute, funny and enjoyable slice of life love story, picking up one or two of these games is not a bad idea at all. 
    As for where to get the games, most of them are available on english DLsite, here: (NSFW content!!)
    http://www.dlsite.com/ecchi-eng/fsr/=/keyword_maker_name/fuguriya+RG05173/ana_flg/all/from/work.same_maker
    For Nyuu Jene and the rest of the games you can't find on DLsite, you can buy them here: (Note that this is a Japanese site, but it DOES accept foreign credit cards. For a guide on how to navigate the site and make  a purchase there, look at the blog post below.) 
    http://gyutto.com/i/item161082 (Nyuu Jene)
    All of the games
     
    Remembering how we met is available on steam or on mangagamer and is the only licensed SonoHana title:
    http://www.mangagamer.com/detail.php?goods_type=0&product_code=149
     
     
    Alright, thats it for this post.  
  2. Dergonu
    Aojiru verse introduction #2: In'Youchuu
    In the last post I listed the current games in the Aojiru verse, (I'm probably the only person on earth calling it this, but it must become a thing!), and I introduced the game that started it all; Hanamaru! Today I will dig deeper into what exactly you should expect from Aojiru games, and introduce In'Youchuu, the most iconic Aojiru-game to date.

    Introduction:
    Let us begin with a general introduction to Aojiru's games. These games are all fairly dark, both in general writing and story, as well as the H content. That being said there is also usually a decent amount of sol moments in each game, with a proper good ending that can be reached by avoiding a minefield of bad endings scattered throughout the games. For games like In'Youchuu with several sequels, this good ending will be the default canon that will continue to the next installment. Exceptions of this rule would be the standalone horror games, such as Fuka no Jugoku, which is a story of pure madness, with no real "good" outcome. There is just very little room for sol content in a game like that. But, the majority of Aojiru's games will feature at least some of it.
    What's interesting about Aojiru games is that the sol moments are actually very enjoyable, and it really feels like they belong, despite of the dark themes these games have. They really nailed it with having just the right amount of "feelgood" content before shit goes bad, so you have time to get to know the characters before shit hits the fan. You get invested in both the story and the characters. Well I do, anyways. I never get tired of seeing Yamato and Mikoto, two characters from In'Youchuu, shouting insults at each other like an old married couple. The games also have some pretty adorable chibi art:

    Many might brand the Aojiru games as mere nukige with no substance or plot, but this is inaccurate. Sure, the games have a lot of H-content and I can see a case being made for them being branded as nukige. But, they are absolutely not mindless nukige without any story. In fact, I find most of the stories told in Aojiru games legitimately interesting, and get very invested in the worlds and the characters introduced in them. Of course, I have to admit I am a fan of the dark H content that there is an abundance of in these games, but I also love the stories, and think games where the two elements can be combined are very cool. If you think the same, these are basically made for you.
    In'Youchuu

    Normally Aojiru games will feature some kind of supernatural entity, such as Nightmare from In'Youchuu-we will talk more about him in a second-or Kudan from Kowaku no Toki. (That dude scared the shit out of me when I first played Kowaku.) These two are very different beings, but both get classified as some kind of "youma", which is a monster born from negative emotions. Some are mindless creatures driven by primal urges, while others are incredibly intelligent beings with god-like powers.
    In In'youchuu we follow a group of monster hunters-The Monster Subjugation Division: The Black Cats- who can use different kinds of spiritual and magical powers to destroy these creatures. (Let's make it simple and call them "The Black Cats.")
    The four members of The Black Cats are Yamato, our protagonist, a half-demon who mainly relies on brute force when fighting. He's a big pervert, and is definitely not the brains of the operation. Then there is Mikoto, the oldest of the Shiratori twins, Mikoto and Takeru Shiratori. She might be the "oldest" of the two, but she is also the most immature of the girls. She always gets in arguments with Yamato, and gets scolded by her little sister, Takeru, for not thinking before she acts on a frequent basis. She hates doing paperwork and will do anything to get out of it. While she is not as well-versed in magic as her sister, she wields a powerful weapon, The Spirit Blade Raikou, and likes to fight in close combat like Yamato. Takeru, the youngest twin, is a cool and collected fighter who always analyzes the situation before charging in, unlike the other two. If not for her, Yamato and Mikoto would surely have gotten themselves killed already. Finally there is Yoru, the leader of the Black Cats and the reason for the group's name. He is a nekotama, a cat spirit. I said Yamato is not the brains of the operation due to his pervertendess and well, Yoru is... the same. He might be the leader, but Takeru is the one making the calls when it counts. Meanwhile, Yoru is off doing... this. (Told you there was some goofy content in these games )

    From left to right we have Yoru, Mikoto and Takeru

    And here is Yamato
    In'Youchuu starts off with Takeru being sent to a school up in the mountains where there have been reports of monsters popping up at night. However, she never reports back to The Black Cats, and goes silent. Concerned about what could have happened, Yoru sends Mikoto and Yamato to the school to investigate Takeru's disappearance, and the nightmare begins.
    Yamato and Mikoto start investigating the school, though find no signs of Takeru on the first night. She simply seems to have vanished. Meanwhile, there are clear signs of monsters hiding somewhere in the school, and the duo heads there at night when monsters are most active. At this point, you are given choices rather frequently, usually with each fight. One wrong choice and you will be sent off to a bad ending, where horrible things will usually happen to the characters. Trying to avoid these bad endings is in my opinion part of the excitment in playing these games. Make a wrong turn and you get "punished", as the characters fails, (though you could see this as a reward depending on how you look at it,) and if you make the right choice the story continues. Though, this does of course not mean you are guaranteed to be victorious. There are times where things just goes south, which is to be expected in games these dark.

    A standard group of youma that you will encounter a lot. These are the mindless sort, that feeds off human organs and are driven solely by primal urges: hunger and the need to breed.
    At the school we are introduced to some familiar faces, like Momono Momo and Sumire from Hanamaru! And also get introduced to a new face, Sui, a childhood friend of Yamato who gets pulled into the chaos that is unfolding at the shcool.
    Eventually you start to figure out what is going on, and meet the first big bad of the Aojiru games: Nightmare. He is a humanoid youma with horse features, that feasts on the wombs of women and aims to create an army of monsters by making the women he eat into breeding machines. Needless to say, he is not a nice guy. Some of the bad endings with this guy... phew. Erhem, anyways.
    In'Youchuu offers some pretty cool fight scenes, with everything from chuuni chants to epic battle CGs. Of course, I don't want to hype this part of the games up too much. Like, you shouldn't go into these games expecting Dies Irae level fight scenes. But, they are definitely enjoyable, and there is often at least one big climax at the end with some pretty cool stuff. There's tons of fight scenes, but the one big one towards the end often uses a lot more budget in the CG department, heh.

    Nightmare. He looks both hilarious and terrifying if you ask me, heh.

    Yamato in his transformed state, during a battle. Being a half-demon, he is capable of transforming himself into a demon for a short time, though it takes a huge toll on his mind and body.

    Yoru, after going into combat mode. Yes, he is a badass.
    I obviously have not linked too many NSFW images in this blog post. There is a lot of that in In'Youchuu, naturally. A lot. But, you can find them yourselves, I'm sure. What I wanted to do with this post was introduce more of the serious side of In'Youchuu, and in turn, Aojiru games as a whole. These games aren't just tentacle nukige with some dark scenes. Sure, there's lots of that, but there's much more to them. There's actual stories here, with well developed worlds and characters. I fell in love with these games because of the mix of seriousness and dark H. I am also just a huge fan of Aojiru's art in general.
    I really hope an Aojiru game gets picked up for localization one day. Heck, maybe I'll be able to translate one myself down the line. That would be pretty exciting.
     
    Anyways, if you do speak Japanese, I recommend giving one of these games a try. Who knows, maybe you'll enjoy the ride more than you expected. A lot of people see "nukige" and brush the games off as bad right off the bat, which is why I'm not overly fond of that branding. Yes, with the amount of H in these, it probably does fit to call them nukige, but there's also so much more to them.
    That is it for my post on In'Youchuu 1. Next blog post will either be about the sequel, Shoku, or Kowaku no Toki, one of my favorites. I still haven't decided which one to go with yet. Either way, see you again then.
  3. Dergonu
    Beat Blades Haruka review,
    By Dergonu, Fuwanovel
     
    Beat Blades Haruka is a gameplay oriented nukige released by Alice Soft, which was recently translated and licensed by Mangagamer. The game offers 150 H-scenes, ranging from normal vanilla scenes to darker things like rape and beastiality. The game's appeal is clearly rooted in it's H-content, but does that mean that's everything the game has to offer?
     

     
    In Beat Blades Haruka you play as Ikusabe Takamaru, a boy who desperately wants a girlfriend. His friend, Narika, keeps getting in the way of his possible romances, something that irritates him quite a bit. But soon, his fairly normal life of being rejected by women and half-assing himself through school quickly comes to a halt when the beautiful ninja Haruka, who has traveled to our time from the past, suddenly appears in Takamaru's life.
    Chasing the evil Noroi who has lept through time with his follwers in order to turn the world into chaos, Haruka and her fellow Cresent moon members turn to Takamaru for help. It turns out, Takamaru is a descendant of the Dragonian, meaning he has the power to transfer strength to the blades of the crescent moon. (The blades being female ninjas.) This power, SP, is transfered from the Dragonian to the blades by ... Having sex.
    Takamaru's mission is to use the blades at his disposal to fight the four Tetra Sealers, Noroi's most powerful subordinates, take down the towers which connect to Noroi's realm, and to stop him once and for all.
    During the game, the player gets a whole lot of choices that will allow them to take full control of their destiny. Will you be the good guy, fighting to stop Noroi? Or will you give in to your dark desires, using the blades as tools for your own pleasure and gain?
    Offering a large variety of different endings, Beat Blades Haruka is a very unique gameplay nukige that allows its player to choose a lot more than just a singular ending, but they have the ability to impact the very way the entire game is played.
     

    The gameplay:
    During the story, a big part of your time will be spent preparing your heroines for battle. During the gameplay parts of the VN, you will be matched up against an enemy. You can spend SP, (sex power), that you accumulate through dragon syngery, (sex), to unleash powerful attacks against your opponent, and you train your heroines stats through either dragon synergy, training, castle raids or defeating enemies. The lower your stats are compared to your opponent, the harder it is to win. The stats highlited in blue, like the defense in this picture, means the stat is underleveled compared to your opponent, and the chances of winning are smaller. By losing a fight against a male Kainin, one of Noroi's lieutenants, the heroine will be raped and an option to skip the following rape H-scene will appear. (Unless you disable that feature in the option menu.)
    The gameplay is entertaining, though it is a little difficult at first. Getting used to what all the different stats does is a little bit hard and overwhelming, and the stats are also a little poorly balanced. For instance, by stacking a large amount of reflex, you will be able to sweep through the game, as your character will essentially never miss, and she will also dodge a lot of the opponent's attacks. But if it's the other way around, and your reflex stat is low but your other stats are high, you still wont do much damage, as most of your attacks will be dodged. Basically, there is too much focus on reflex, something that makes combat a little bit imbalanced at certain points in the game. Your opponents gets really strong in the late game, meaning their reflex stats are high, and so if you didn't train your heroine correctly, a bad end is waiting for you. (If you are defeated by a sealer, you get a bad end and a game over.)
    Still, these flaws aside, the gameplay is enjoyable. It's fun training up your heroine, either choosing to clear out the streets to protect the people like the good guy, or simply being an asshole and having your heroine raped over and over. (This increases her stats a great deal, however it gives you + brutality, and if the heroine is raped too much, it can lead to a brutal bad ending.) The variety offered to you makes playing the game a second, third or fourth time fun.
     

    The phase system, Libido and your dice
    While we are still on the gameplay part of the VN, there is a few things to note. The game itself is split into four parts, 3 phases and then actual story. The 3 phases are morning, afternoon and night phase. Between these phases the game's story progresses, and you see normal VN style dialogue as well as choices that you can use to impact the story, as well as your heroine's stats.
    During the morning and afternoon phase, you either train up your heroine by having sex, raise your libido or rest, in order to get more dice recovered. The night phase is spent actually fighting your opponents, and going on castle raids.
    (What exactly are these dice and how do they work?)
    The dice system in Beat Blades Haruka is what let's you make your "moves" in the phases. You get X amount of dice each day, based of your dice recovery. You can have a maximum of 8 dice at a time. The dice can be a number between 1 and 6, and the dice itself is used to "pay for" actions. As an example, if you want to sleep with haruka to increase some of her stats and her SP, you have to "pay" some dice. The lower levels of dragon synergy are cheaper, but give less stats, the higher levels are more expensive but give you more stats. The system is very forgiving. If you roll a 7 on something that needs 8 to complete, 7 will be subtracted from the action, so that in the next phase, it will only cost 1 dice. The dice itself is based off RNG, though do note that it is essentially impossible to soft reset for. Still, with the way the system is made, soft reseting for dice is not even needed, so there is nothing to worry about there. If you do it right, completing the game in the 99 days given to you is a walk in the park.
    Lastly, libido is a strange stat. It is what makes your dice recovery higher. Every 10 points of libido, your dice recovery goes up by 1. What does this mean? It means that after the night phase, you will get back X dice. So if you have a dice recovery of 5, the next day following a night phase, you are given 5 dice. Raising your libido is simple, and is done by either having sex with a female Kainin, choosing an option at a choice screen with (libido) next to it, or just clicking "raise libido".
     

    The game's value beyond H-content?
    We have already talked about the gameplay side of the game. It's entertaining, though very repetative and it's also focused strongly around H-scenes. (In order to prepare your heroine for a battle you have to have sex, and if you lose a battle, you get into a rape scene. H is a big part of this nukige, obviously.)
    But what about the story itself? Music, art, characters and such. What is the value of the game outside just the H-scenes?
     
    The character designs and art in the game is overall very nice. A lot of work seems to have been put into each character's design, though the personalities of the the main characters are fairly bland and simple. Most work seems to have been put into the kainins and tetra sealers. They are all very badass, pretty, hot, what have you. Each one of them has many small details that stand out, and are just overall very well made. The main characters are by no means poorly designed, but in comparison they do fall a little short.
    The art itself is very nice, with animated cut-scenes, well drawn backgrounds and detailed character sprites.
    The music in the VN is pretty good, offering a variety of tracks for different situations that fits well with the atmosphere of the scene.
     
    The story itself is what it is. The game does take itself seriously; it's not like it just jokes around and put all focus on H. The story is decent. There is moments where it will take you by suprise, certain moments that are more emotional than others, though the actual story is fairly short. The main focus of the dialogue aspects of the game lies in the different scenes you can get with the heroines and side characters by making choices. If you focus on one girl a lot, increasing her love hearts in the game, you will go on dates with her and get close with her. If you are an asshole and just have your blades raped and defeated, you will get unique scenes that deal with this.
    The actual main story that remains the same through all playthroughs is therefore minimal, as the game wants to keep the focus on your choices as the player. This is both a flaw and a strength in the VN. It's a flaw because it means that ultimately, the story itself is slightly underwhelming and short, but it's also a strength because it does mean the player feel like he or she is more in control of the outcome.
     
    All in all Beat Blades Haruka is a solid VN, offering unique and entertaining gameplay, a big variety of choices that lets the player impact the game's ending, though it does lack some impact in its delivery of the story.
     
    + Entertaining gameplay
    + Good art, music and character designs
    + A huge variety of choices that let's the player choose how the game is played
     
    - Slightly underwhelming main story
    - The main characters are a little bland and some more time should have been put into them
    - The stat system is a little imbalanced
  4. Dergonu
    Beat Valkyrie Ixseal Review
    Choukou Shinki Ixseal, (Beat Valkyrie Ixseal), is the newest game in AliceSoft's "Beat" series. (Same universe as Beat Blades Haruka and Beat Angel Escalayer.)
    Though, while the game is set in the same universe as the other two games, it can be played without having played either of its predecessors. (The only connection to previous games is a few small references, that are not important to the story at all. In fact, I'd recommend playing this game first if you plan on playing a game in the series. I will explain why later in the review.)
    Similar to its predecessors, Ixseal is a gameplay/ VN hybrid, where you advance through a number of stages, defeating monsters along the way until you reach the area boss. Upon defeating the boss, the story progresses, and you move onto a new area. In between gameplay aspects, you see normal VN styled scenes, which makes up the bulk of the game. The game is voiced throughout all the story segments, as well as the H-scenes. The only portions of the game that are not voiced are "filler" scenes, that appear between gameplay segments, outside of the main story. These are normally only added for comic relief, and are not actually important at all, so the lack of voice acting in these scenes means quite little.

    The story
    In Ixseal you play as Oudou Tsuguhiko, a perverted man who swears he is the true "demon king," the most powerful evil being in the world. His dream is to make all female students in the world wear bloomers as their official uniform, through the use of his demonic powers. His best friend, Kirika, always brushes Tsuguhiko's talk about demons and such aside as jokes, but it turns out that he is actually telling the truth.
    With the help of his servant demon Bezel, Tsuguhiko's true power as the demon king is awakened by a dark ritual, and the power of the seven deadly sins, (the source of the demon king's power,) pours into him. The ritual is interrupted shortly after, however, as an angel with the name Xillia shows up, with the intention of killing the newborn demon king.
    Bezel and Tsuguhiko escapes, but things only go downhill from there for Tsuguhiko. He is betrayed by Bezel, who steals six of the seven deadly sins from his body, and uses them to awaken six powerful demons, leaving Tsuguhiko with nothing but the power of lust in his body. Bezel tries to take Tsuguhiko's life, but fails because of the angel, who finally catches up to them, driving Bezel away. Sadly, Tsuguhiko's friend Kirika is killed in the struggle.
    Kirika is revived by Xillia, but this takes up nearly all her power, leaving her defenseless against the demons summoned by Bezel. But, through the power of lust, which still resides within Tsuguhiko, he powers up Xillia with demonic energy, and she changes forms from an angel, into the ideal warrior in Tsuguhiko's mind— a valkyrie.

    With the power of lust, the demon king powers up Xillia through sex, and with the combination of her own power and demonic energy, she grows stronger, ready to take on Bezel's army.
    Bezel, along with six of the seven deadly sins, (in the form of powerful demons,) plan on absorbing energy from all humans, so that they can take over the world. The demons create a barrier over earth, stopping other angels from coming down from heaven to help, leaving Xillia alone.
    Now it's up to Xillia and Tsuguhiko to stop the demons' onslaught before it's too late.

    While the gameplay part of Ixseal might make it sound silly, (have sex with the heroines to make them stronger, by injecting them with your demonic energy) the story is miles better in Ixseal compared to Haruka. I'm not sure I'd call this game a nukige, actually, as the story does truly work by itself, not relying on the abundance of H at all. (Unlike Haruka, where the H content is the most appealing factor by far.) The characters are well designed and interesting, and the story is good. Lastly, the protagonist is very well done as well. He is actually powerful; he is the demon king, after all. The story is about taking back the deadly sins stolen by Bezel, powering up Tsuguhiko with each boss defeated. While he does not do the fighting himself, he does not feel like a pointless plot device. You actually feel like you are the demon king, trying to reclaim your powers, and not a can of gasoline that exists only to power up the heroines. (Like in Beat Blades Haruka.)
    Sadly, Ixseal wastes a lot of its potential by sticking to the same formula that Haruka did.
    Instead of making it possible for the player to choose how to guide the protagonist from the start, (choosing to be good or evil,) the game has it set in stone that Tsuguhiko is a good guy at heart, and he acts like the biggest vanilla-pleb in history towards his comrades, despite the fact that he is the demon king, and his objective is ultimately to reclaim his powers. Not exactly what you'd expect from the demon king.
    The story is good, but it would have been even better if there was more choices in terms of how the protagonist acts, in my opinion. The more you learn about the origin of his powers, and the history of the demons, the more you feel like making choices to impact his decisions, but you are left following the linear story until the branching point that only appears towards the end of the story.
    Another issue I found with the structure of the game is that it is very similar to Haruka at its core. While the story is different, and the characters' motivations etc also differ from that of Haruka's, it still shares enough similarities that the story can become predictable if you have played Haruka. Because of this, I would personally recommend reading Ixseal first, if you have not yet read Haruka, as the plot twists will be more surprising. And, seeing as the story is without a doubt better in Ixseal, this way you will get more enjoyment out of the game, compared to if you read Haruka first. That being said, the game is still good, and some predictability won't ruin that.

    The gameplay:
    Similar to Beat Blades Haruka, the gameplay comes in two stages. The first stage is all about buffing your heroines by sleeping with them, raising their stats in the process. Then, you advance through an area, defeating monsters, collecting power-ups, and fighting bosses.
    Each time you lose against an area boss, you see a rape scene with that boss, (with a maximum of two scenes per boss,) and the heroine's "lust" meter is filled up with one stage. (If the lust meter gets maxed out, you will get a bad ending.) These scenes can be disabled in the menu, if you do not like to see scenes of that nature. Seeing as what types of H you make your heroines do during the first phase of gameplay is up to you, you can freely choose to be evil and only see dark H, or be nice and only see vanilla. (Or do a mix of both!)


    You also have two other meters to keep an eye on. The love meter, and the demon energy meter. (Actually has a different name, but this sounds cooler!) While this might sound complicated, it is actually very simple. The love meter is raised by doing things like going on dates with the heroines, while the demon energy meter is raised by doing evil things to the heroines.
    Depending on the stats you are left with towards the end, you can choose an ending with your favored heroine.
    Just like Haruka, the boss fights can prove difficult if you do not boost the stats of the heroines properly, so do be careful there. Overall though, the difficulty has been decreased quite a lot. While I found myself failing quite a few times during my first playthrough of Haruka, I did not get a game over screen once during my first playthrough of Ixseal.

    H-scene and ending variety
    Beat Blades Haruka is known for being filled with all sorts of H-scenes, ranging from normal vanilla, to hardcore rape, beastiality and more. Ixseal also has a varied roster of H-scenes, though not as many as Haruka. (I believe Ixseal has a bit over 100, while Haruka had over 150.) But, seeing as Ixseal is more story driven than Haruka was, they might have opted for more focus on the story instead of adding extra H-scenes. But, while the game has less H-scenes, the quality has not dropped. Even the vanilla scenes are quite good, (I phrase it this way, as I did not exactly play the game for the vanilla personally.) The voice work in this game is amazing, which adds a lot to the H-scenes. There is a large variety of different H in Ixseal as well, with most scenes being very hot. So, while this might not be as nukige-ish as Haruka, it sure does have its fair share of good H, too.
    Now, the endings. I had high hopes for the Ixseal endings, especially the bad ends. The Haruka bad endings were very good, though way too short. Seeing as we are literally the demon king himself in this game, I was hoping that the bad endings would be longer, and even better than Haruka's.
    The game has six primary endings, one bad and one good for each heroine, a harem end, and a "normal" ending. You can also get other types of bad ends through the game, but these six are the main heroine endings. (For comparison, Haruka had three endings per heroine, a good, a bad and a brutal end.)
    In Ixseal, they did indeed make slightly longer endings, though they still felt too short to me. The bad ends did somewhat live up to my expectations. I don't want to get into details to avoid spoilers, but they felt satisfying to a certain extent. (To me at least, as I want dark bad ends.) And dark they were. Kirika's ending was something out of an utsuge, and Xillia's bad end was definitely a cool way to tie the "evil" side of the protagonist into the main story. That being said, they were still too short, which in turn still made me feel a bit disappointed. With how long the game is, and how much build up there is to the climax of the story, I would have wanted endings at least twice as long as the current ones, perhaps even longer.
    Still, they were pretty good, all things considered. As for the good endings, they too were well done, and even though I did not have any plans on caring much about the vanilla side of the game, I do have to admit, I felt some feels towards the end of the good routes. Sadly, these too were a bit too short as well.
    If they do make another game in the series, I hope that they finally make the endings a bit longer for that one.

    Music, art, the heroines and more.
    Like I mentioned above, the voice acting in the game is stellar. It had to be hard delivering some of the messed up lines in this game with a straight face, lol. The six demons representing the deadly sins were all handled well, and all come off as creepy and "demonic" in their own ways. I especially took a liking to Pride and Wrath, as the two really fit perfectly for the roles they are meant to fill. The VAs do a great job of bringing the "essence" of their sin into their character in their voiced lines.
    The heroines were... good and bad. While Kirika had lots of unique aspects that made her fun and different from her "counterpart" in Beat Blades Haruka, Narika, Xillia was way too similar to Haruka in my opinion. The two are basically the same, boring character, just in different settings. That being said, Xillia has a very good backstory, which makes up for some of her blandness.
    Overall, I wanted the heroines to be more unique compared to the heroines in Haruka, and found myself a bit irritated at the similarities at times. Nevertheless, the story for each heroine was done well, so it was not a complete bust. Also, Kirika's ass is just amazing. (/ω\)
    As far as the art goes, it's just great. The resolution was stepped up to HD, (Haruka's resolution was 800x600, which was a disappointment in my eyes.) The art is consistent and well drawn, and some of the CGs are truly badass. Like I mentioned before, the character designs were great, so I have no complaints about the art at all, tbh.
    I'm not really a music guy, so I can't give a detailed review of the music, so I'll just say this: I liked it a lot. There are over 30 music tracks in the game, all well fit for the scenes in which they are used. I especially liked the opening. Definitely a game I'd consider buying the OST for.
    Conclusion:
    Ixseal is much better than Haruka in my book. Pretty much everything I felt was lacking in Haruka was improved in Ixseal, (although it did not quite win me over when it came to the game's endings.) The story, characters, art, music and gameplay have all been improved, making a great overall experience.
    I rated the game an 8.4, which would have been even higher had the endings been longer, and more thought out. Still, this is a very solid game for both vanilla fans, and people like me, who likes games with darker H.
    If you're a fan of demons, angels and such, you'll definitely like this game. I am personally a sucker for anything that involves the seven deadly sins, so I was hooked from the start.
  5. Dergonu
    So, the past week I have been reading ChuSinGura 46+1, and surprised myself by blowing through 仮名手本忠臣蔵編 (basically, chapter 1,) in under a week. Between the length of the game, as well as the difficult samurai speech patterns and complicated edo-period political schemes, it certainly is the most challenging VN I have read in Japanese as of yet. Anywanys, as the game is so bloody long, and the chapters can somewhat be considered self contained, I just wanted to write something about my impressions and thoughts of chapter 1.
     
    It has been a long time since I was this into the VN I'm reading, be it translated or not translated. I think the last time was when I read Nurse Love Addiction when that came out, as the mystery element in that game really took me by surprise, and I read it all in a couple of days. That's months ago though, so finally finding a game again which really just hooked me from the beginning, and kept me hyped all the way to the end was a great feeling. ChuSinGura's combination of silly humor and dead serious plot was a breath of fresh air. It goes to show that a game doesn't have to take itself too seriously to be really good. It honestly felt very similar to Majikoi on that front. (Also, the colored text, the character movement during combat scenes and what not. The game is quite honestly very similar in style to Majikoi.)
     
    So, the first thing I have to say about this game is that it is just stunning. The art is really pretty, the specific colored text for each character gives them all a unique feel, and the sprites having sooo many different poses and expressions really makes their personalites feel so much more real and alive.
    (They even literally have specific sprites just to hold food and drinks they are eating/ drinking in that scene... such details in the sprites alone isn't that common in most VNs I have read, at least.)
    The large amount of not just CGs, but event backgrounds took me by surprise as well. Many times I was certain I was looking at a CG, only to find out it was a specific background made for that scene.
    Honestly, the story was just fantastic. Some people might argue that the silly and goofy jokes and what not ruins the seriousness of it, but I strongly disagree. Sure, the game has a lot of not-so serious moments, but they do not at all remove any of the emotions behind the actual story. I'll admit, I did cry several times through this story, and probably will in the following chapters, too.
    (A few CGs and scenes I loved. Spoilers inside the spoiler tags, duh. Mainly just CGs, but a bit of my opinions about what happened and what not inside.)
     
    Another thing I absolutely loved about this game is the antagonists. Well, not the actual morons plotting the evil plan behind the scenes, but the antagonists who the samurai actually fight... Specifically, Shimizu Ichigaku, who has to be one of the most badass characters I have seen, ever. (I'm also really looking forward to seeing Yamayoshi Shinpachirou in the game, as she uses a nodachi, and that is basically my favorite type of weapon, ever.)
    Anyways, now, for some badass stuff from Shimizu Ichigaku: (Once again, some spoilers in the spoiler tags:)
    Finally, I have to say, Suguha is a great main character. He is definitely one of my favorite protagonists in any VN. Although he is powerful, he isn't the super stronk dude who just wrecks everything in his path, like some protagonists are. He is very devoted to his master, but still has a certain amount of doubt and fear, especially surrounding his own life, and won't hesitate to speak up if he feels something needs to be said. It really comes off clearly that, despite him being put into this surreal setting of the 47 ronin avenging their lord, he isn't truly a warrior from that time period. He isn't fearless and he is definitely flawed. But his sense of justice and devotion to his master is still very admirable. He is also really funny, and the mix of a modern guy from the 21st century in the Edo-period really makes the whole game so much more funny. Overall I just loved his character.
    On that note, the romance between him and Kuranosuke was really great. I thought the romance was going to be a bit pushed to the side in this game, but it was handled perfectly.
    I could write about this chapter alone for hours and hours, but I'll probably come back and write more about the game once I finish the rest of the chapters, so I'll leave it here for now.
    This has quite honestly already jumped up to the spot of one of my favorite VNs of all time. If the next chapters are as good as the first one, this might just take the #1 spot for me tbh.
    Anyways, that's it for now. Time to get back to reading!
  6. Dergonu
    This is a tale of chips, bugs and DEATH.
    Enjoy:
    Last week I had the joy of seeing a cockroach in my bathroom. My reaction was obviously to scream, shut the bathroom door and flee into my bedroom, where I remained for 30 minutes, stunned by fear. After playing with the idea of never ever setting foot in my bathroom again, I thought to myself: "No! I have to man up and fight this thing!" Grabbing a plastic bag, I rushed into the bathroom, ready to trap the fucker and throw him in the garbage. But... he was gone. Now, there is absolutely nowhere he could have gone. My bathtub is stuck to the floor, so there is no crack to hide under, and I looked all over the tiny, tiny bathroom and he wasn't hiding on the ceiling, or in some corner. He was legit gone. This of course made chills run through my body, as I thought I had found a cockroach with superpowers. Scared to death, I went back to cowering in fear for another good 10 minutes, before I decided to just stop thinking about the fucker. I started brushing my teeth, getting ready for bed.
    Then, as I spat into the sink, and the toothpaste ran down into the drain, I saw something rush past me. Turns out, the cockroach had fled into the pipes, then hooked onto the pipes and sat in there. (They can do this with their hind legs, apparently.)
    The fucker was back, and he was almost touching me. Screaming, I ran out of the bathroom and grabbed whatever I could find that could be used to trap the fucker with. And there was... an empty pringles tube.
    I ripped the lid of the thing and slammed it onto the cockroach, trapping him inside the tube. Luckily, the roach was just perfectly sized to fit within the dimensions of a pringles tube, so no part of him was sticking out. I had him completely trapped. Rushing back into the bedroom, I grabbed another plastic bag and some duct tape. I then tried to push the roach into the plastic bag, but he almost escaped as I tilted the tube, so I had to improvise. Pushing the plastic bag against the tube, I stopped the roachs' escape, and shoved him further into the pitch black abyss. Once the whole bag was inside the tube, I taped it shut with duct tape, and threw that into another plastic bag.
    After a short victory dance, I brought the bag containing the defeated roach outside, and threw it into the garbage.
    Derg 1 Roach 0
    - Fin -
  7. Dergonu
    Hey folks! So, for those of you who don't know, I am currently studying abroad in Japan, and will be here for the next 5 months. It's something I have been looking forward to for a while, though moving to a foreign country, especially one as different as Japan, is quite a tough transition. I'll be writing some stuff about my trip here in my blog now and then, talking about how things are going, what I have been up to and stuff like that. Today I'll be writing a bit about the first few weeks here, and the things that has been tough to deal with for me.
    (I have currently lived in Japan for about 2 weeks)
    So, I have heard people talk about "culture shock" when coming to a country like Japan. I figured I wouldn't really experience that, because I knew so much about the culture beforehand. Well, I was wrong. That didn't help.
    Japan is... different. I mean, I love it here, but man... everything is so different from what I'm used to, it has gotten to me for sure.
    People here honestly look like robots to me. In Japan it isn't really normal to speak much in public at all. You are meant to be quiet to respect those around you. They also stand in nearly flawless lines on the subway/ train platforms, at restaurants, stores and so on. They stay at work and school until late at night, and you mostly see students studying, even at lunch time. They are incredibly diligent, almost to a scary degree tbh. Everyone picks up their own trash, and you won't find a single shred of garbage lying around anywhere. There is no noise like loud music or anything of the sort anywhere, (except for actual clubs and stuff like that, of course.) The buses and trains runs like clockwork, leaving and arriving exactly when they are supposed to, and the trains are filled with people sleeping, worn-out from long days at work/ school/ club practice.
    It's like this country is literally run by robot overlords or something.
    Honestly, it's a bit overwhelming. There are so many things you need to keep in mind. Don't do this, don't do that, make sure you remember this, never forget that, bla bla. From where to stand in an escalator to your body language when speaking to people, what forms to use when speaking to others in different social standings... My head hurts from trying to remember half of it.
    Another thing that really hit me hard is the food. I love Japanese food, but eating it 4 times a day 7 days a week has taken a toll on me. I honestly just can't get the food down even if it tastes good, especially in the mornings. So, I have started looking for western styled restaurants and shops, and found a few, luckily. It's strange, but there is a certain... joint taste to all food in Japan. It's hard to explain it, but there is just a certain "something" to all of it. Without mixing a bit of western food here and there, I just don't have an appetite. It has been surprisingly difficult to adjust my body to eating Japanese food all the time. It will probably be a few more weeks, possibly even a month + before I get completely used to the food here. Until then I'll make some pretty frequent stops at western restaurants, to stop myself from starving, lol.
    Ugh, and the climate. Holy crap, the humidity... please help, lol. The humidity here is constantly around 85-90%+, and with heat around 30 degrees C, it literally feels like you are walking around in an oven 24/7. You can't move an inch without getting sweaty. Go home and shower, then walk around outside for a mintue and you are already completely soaked. Not just sweaty, actually like, wet all over. You skin feels clammy from just being outside for a second.
    And the bugs. They are some weird mutated monsters summoned from hell. Like, holy crap. Some of the wasps/ bees here are bigger than my finger, and the Cicadas and other bugs of that size look like they could literally eat me. There is also one huge ass spider living outside our apartments, and I am personally convinced he will some day grow large enough to take over Japan and rule as the new emperor. Luckily winter should be coming soon-ish, (heh,) so they should all die soon. As someone who is completely terrified of bugs, and who can't take too hot temperatures, I cannot wait for the winter. Please winter-san, just get here already!
     
    Lastly, the university schedule really did a number on me. Today we were at school from 10:00 AM to 19:00 PM. In addition, each period is 90 minutes long, without breaks, and the classrooms are either way too hot or air conditioned too much, making them freezing. We will also have classes on saturdays, apparently. The club recruitment day is on Friday, and a lot of people are super excited about joining clubs, but all I can personally think about is: How on earth are you going to balance all this school work, and several hours of club practice each week? I'd die, lol. So yeah, I'll skip on the clubs, personally. They do have a few really fun looking clubs here though, like the TCG club, the cosplay club, the boardgame club, the English conversation club and so on.
    The school festival is in a couple months. That will be awesome. Can't wait for that.
     
    Anyways, this update has just been mostly about the stuff that overwhelmed me during my first 2 weeks here. I am getting used to them little by little, and there is of course tons and tons of good stuff that outweighs the bad. The next blog post I write will be much more positive
  8. Dergonu
    Fuwanovel Battle Royale - Volume 2 -
    Chapter 1: The Beginning
     
    <??> Watched the screen in front of <him/her?> intently. Everything was ready. The time had finally come. All that planning, all that preparation. It had all been for this moment.
    “All the pieces are in place. Well then, let’s start the game, shall we?”
    <??> Pressed the button before <him/her?> with a wicked smile.
    “Hear me, members of Fuwanovel. You are here for a single purpose; to entertain me! Those who have their name announced over these broadcasts shall enter the arena, and fight to the death! Anyone and anything you see out in the arenas will be an enemy, so be careful… And ruthless. As far as the rules go… There are none, heh.
    Good luck.”
     
    Day 1:
    Members in this chapter:

    “The game has begun. Good luck.”
    “‘Alright, time to hunt.” Ranzo jumped down from the platform he was standing on, numbered ‘11’. He had woken up inside an unfamiliar room just moments before, where he had found his suit and weapons. After a short, confusing briefing from the person in charge, Ranzo’s <cell?> had opened, and he could walk out. What greeted him was a massive forest, full of large trees towering high above him. The large trees blocked out almost all the sunlight, making it hard for Ranzo to see where he was going. But, it was either straight ahead, or back to the cell, so Ranzo chose to keep walking.
    The “briefing” had been simple. “You are stuck here. You are to fight anything and anyone you come across. If you are the last alive after the game is over, you win. If you die, you lose.”
    “Gee, really? If I die, I lose? That’s a shocker.” Ranzo spun his scythe around his body with precision while he walked, clearly used to handling the weapon. A sabre hung from his waist in a makeshift sheathe, crafted from his belt.
    After having advanced through the forest for a good ten minutes, Ranzo reached a suspicious looking cave, marked with a number— “7”.
    “Hm, another contender?” Ranzo whispered, and gripped the handle of his scythe firmly while he scanned his surroundings. If his hunch was right, the numbers represented contenders in the “game”. He was 11, and “7” was a different Fuwanovel user, also entered in the game.
    Crack.
    Ranzo spun around instinctively at the sound of a branch breaking behind him, and in the same motion, he threw his scythe forwards. The sound of metal colliding with metal made Ranzo flinch for a brief second, and he lost sight of the person who had knocked his scythe out of the air.
    “Tch.” Ranzo gripped his sabre and chased the mystery person, like a wolf rushing towards a sheep. He had no plan. The only thing going through his head was: kill it. Whoever or whatever it was; kill it.
     
    Meanwhile
    SeniorBlitz ran as fast as he could through the forest, like he had the grim reaper himself on his heels. That was in fact what Senior had thought for a second when he saw the scythe fly towards him just moments before. Senior was not well versed in any kind of combat. He had, in fact, never been in a fight in his entire life. What he did have, however, was a special ability. The ability to know what to do, where to go. He couldn’t explain it well, but there was something guiding him at all times. If he was about to trip and fall, something in his mind would tell him to stop. If he ever got lost, something would guide him back home, even if he had no idea where he was. It was thanks to that power, that guide, that Senior was still alive. He had seen the scythe coming seconds before it was thrown, and had used the sword that was given to him at the start of the game to block its path. He had sadly dropped the sword in his escape, and was therefore now unarmed.
    “Stop running my friend, I wish you no harm!”
    His attacker was shouting at Senior from behind. Thanks to his ability, Senior knew that he would be able to shake off his tail if he just kept following the path laid out in his mind. He did not look back, he did not falter.
    “Tch, you little… How long do you plan on running for?”
    “I’ll catch you eventually you little slime! Just you wait, I’m coming for you!”
    The voice of his attacker grew distant, as Senior just kept on running through the forest. Before long, he had completely shaken off the madman running after him.
    “Haah, haah, haah…” Senior finally had the opportunity to stop for a breath. With his hands on his knees, he spent a few minutes calming down. He knew that the man behind him would not be able to find him for at least another ten minutes, thanks to his ability.
    “Alright, time to find a better place to hide.”
    Senior got back up, and started walking through the dense forest, looking for shelter. He figured it would be smart to find someplace safe to gather his thoughts. It would be best to do so before nightfall, so he started walking faster, following the path lit up in his mind.
    “Just about another hundred meters this way, and— Huh?!”
    “GRAARGH!”
    Senior was so focused on following the path to “safety”, he paid no mind to his surroundings, and did not notice the strange creature approaching from his left. Whatever it was, its massive jaw closed around Senior’s chest, and he was lifted up into the air and shook brutally back and forth, the sharp teeth of the beast ripping his flesh apart with each movement.
    “GYAAAAH!”
    Senior let out a primal scream, and tried to punch the creature with his free arm, but it was no use.
    The beast’s iron jaw remained closed, and the life soon drained from Senior’s body, as most of his organs and blood poured down onto the grass below him. His entire torso had been ripped to bits, and what was left of him was soon devoured by the beast, leaving only pools of blood and a few chunks of flesh behind.
     
     
    About an hour later, Ranzo arrived at the scene of Senior’s death. Taking one look at the pool of blood and gore, Ranzo clicked his tongue, and turned back.
    “Guess someone got to him before me. Oh well, time to look for the next guy, I guess.”
    Whistling a song to himself, Ranzo spun his scythe around, matching the song’s rhythm as he walked back into the depths of the forest, looking for new prey to hunt.
     

    Elsewhere:
    Arcadeotic sat at the end of a cliff, looking at the waterfall below him with a emotionless expression, balancing a katana on his feet. A single sudden motion would surely send the sword tumbling down the fifty meter long drop.
    Arcadeotic was wearing a blue yukata, stained red with the blood of a pack of wild boars he had killed an hour ago. After cooking some of their meat on a fire, he had eaten some for himself, then tossed the rest down into the abyss. He had no intentions of sharing the meat with anyone else, nor did he want the smell of the meat to attract possible predators. He had extinguished the fire as soon as he was done cooking the meat, but it might still have notified someone of his location. Nevertheless, Arcadeotic sat completely still on the cliff, staring out into nothingness.
    Sure enough, after another few minutes, the sound of footsteps could be heard behind him.
    Still, Arcadeotic remaind motionless, not facing his attacker.
     
    Sneaking up behind him was Thatcomicguy, clutching his spear with his right hand. In his free arm was a wooden shield, covered in thick leather. Other than his weapons, Thatcomicguy was completely naked, though his body was covered in blue war paint.
    Thatcomicguy snuck up to Arcadeotic until he was a mere two meters away, then stabbed at Arcadeotic’s back with his spear. Right before the spear hit Arcadeotic’s back, he jumped straight up into the air, grabbed his katana, and in the same motion as he drew it from its sheath, he cut at Thatcomicguy’s chest.
    Thatcomicguy barely had time to block the slice with his shield, and was forced back a few steps from the impact.
    Meanwhile, Arcadeotic landed gracefully on the edge of the cliff, and quickly moved in for another attack, cutting at Thatcomicguy’s left foot.
    Arcadeotic closed the distance between them in a second, and mercilessly sliced a deep cut in Thatcomicguy’s calf.
    “Ugh…”
    Thatcomicguy groaned in pain, and pushed his shield forward defensively, hitting Arcadeotic in the chest.
    Arcadeotic fell backwards, but quickly regained his balance.
    For the first time in the fight, Arcadeotic glanced at his opponent, and chuckled.
    “You look ridiculous.”
    Thatcomicguy paid him no mind, and tried to focus on his plan of attack. He should have the upper hand, even with the cut on his leg, as he had the longest reach thanks to his spear, and a shield to block the katana’s slashes. The leather on his shield had taken a hit already, and was already starting to come apart. It probably wouldn’t last too long.
    Seemingly having come up with a plan, Thatcomicguy stepped forward. Although the pain in his leg was nothing to joke about, he did not let it stop him.
    “Yeah, well, we’ll see who gets the last laugh.”
    Keeping just enough distance between himself and his opponent, so that the katana would not be able to reach him, Thatcomicguy thrust his spear towards Arcadeotic. Arcadeotic easily deflected the thrust, but as he was about to counterattack, Thatcomicguy swiftly changed his grip, turning his spear downwards towards Arcadeotic leg, and dug the tip of his spear into Arcadeotic’s knee. Arcadeotic winced in response, but didn’t let the pain stop him from fighting. Not wasting any time, Arcadeotic slashed two times, but both attacks were blocked by Thatcomicguy’s pesky shield.
    “Tch.”
    It became impossible for Arcadeotic to stand on his wounded leg, which meant he would be at an even bigger disadvantage than before. His strongest point was his speed, but without his full mobility, he would be unable to close the distance between himself and his opponent fast enough to stop the spear from keeping him at bay.
    “... An eye for an eye, huh?”
    Arcadeotic said to himself, as he tried to come up with a way out of the dire situation. He had cut his opponent’s leg, but in return, his own knee had been damaged. Both of them were less mobile, but it seemed like his own injury was a bit more serious.
    “Well, what can you do.”
    Arcadeotic walked forward with awkward steps, his wounded leg mostly just being dragged along the ground.
    “I’ll end this with one strike.”
    The bold statement from Arcadeotic made Thatcomicguy snicker.
    “Oh, is that so? Well by all means, come at me.”
    Thatcomicguy spat back, readied his spear, and covered his chest with his shield. There was no way Arcadeotic would be able to attack his opponent’s torso. And yet…
    “Hmph!”
    With a grunt, Arcadeotic jumped forward, and with all his might, he slammed the flat side of his sword into the wooden shield. The impact made Thatcomicguy stagger, and he let out a painful groan as he put all his weight on his wounded leg.
    Still in the air, Arcadeotic slashed downwards. His sword moved along the rough leather covering the wooden shield, until it reached Thatcomicguy’s exposed shoulder. The sharp blade slashed open the naked shoulder, making Thatcomicguy drop his shield. Unfortunately for Arcadeotic, he was unable to brace himself properly after the attack, and he crashed into the ground, dropping his katana. The air was knocked out of him as his chest collided with the rough ground. But, he wasn’t done there. Although the world around him was spinning, he used his healthy leg to kick violently at Thatcomicguy’s wounded foot.
    “Guaaah!”
    Thatcomicguy screamed, as he too fell to the ground, paralyzed by pain.
    Crawling towards his katana, Arcadeotic was ready to deliver the finishing blow. He gripped the hilt of his weapon, and turned towards his fallen enemy. Although every part of his body hurt, Arcadeotic somehow managed to stand, and moved towards his prey with clumsy movements.
    “Hya!”
    As he reached his target, he brought his katana above his shoulder, and slashed mercilessly at Thatcomicguy's neck.
    Clink.
    The sound of something breaking made Arcadeotic look at his sword in confusion. The katana’s blade had snapped in half, most likely a result from his fall. And since the blade had broken mid swing, he had not actually hit his opponent.
    “Well, shi—”
    Before Arcadeotic could finish his sentence, the tip of a spear dug into his throat, making a spray of fresh blood shoot out from the wound, dying Thatcomicguy’s skin in red.
    As Arcadeotic’s dead body hit the floor, Thatcomicguy dropped his spear, as the strength began to leave his body.
    “You… Tough bastard…”
    With those words, he passed out.
     

     
    Meanwhile, at the outskirts of the forest:

     
    “How’s this place?”
    “Hmm, looks good. We’ll camp here for now. Someone start a fire.”
    “Ugh, do you think there are any more of those things out there? I’m not sure I’m comfortable sleeping here, out in the open…”
    “Don’t worry, we’ll take shifts keeping guard. #28, #6, you two take the first shift.”
    “Huh? Who died and made you the boss?”
    Four figures, covered in mud and blood, were talking under the cover of a giant tree, just half a kilometer from the edge of the forest. The four of them were members of Fuwanovel, and contenders in the death game that had started previously that day. But, neither of them wanted to kill their fellow members, and as a result, they had formed a team.
    Shortly after they teamed up, however, they were attacked by giant monsters that seemed to live in the depths of the forest. Hungry and tired, the four of them had finally reached a seemingly peaceful area, and were setting up camp with what little resources they had.
    The four members were Sayaka (#28), Norleas (#9), Shikomizue (#13) and Kiriririri (#6).
    Shikomizue was the natural leader type, and had taken the lead of the group as a result, something that did not sit well with Sayaka.
    “Why do I have to listen to your orders, huh? I’m tired too! I want to sleep just as much as the next guy!”
    “Look, I don’t mean to be rude here, but in terms of actual combat abilities, me and #9 are the strongest. We need our rest, so that we can protect this group when the time comes. You and #6 are… Well you know.”
    Shikomizue gestured towards Kiriririri, a small girl with silver hair, who was poking the ground with a wooden stick, paying no mind to the conversation that was happening around her. So far, she had not participated in the fighting at all.
    “Okay, I’ll give you her, but we’re not that crazy! Master and I helped you in the fight against those… Those things, didn’t we?!”
    Sayaka pointed in the direction they had come from, where the group had fought against numerous strange beasts.
    Shikomizue scratched his head awkwardly in response. He did not want the group to start fighting among each other, as that would just make things worse. He wanted to figure out what was going on, and how to get out of it. In order to do that, he needed to get as many people as possible to form a team. If no one killed each other, the “game” or whatever it was, had to come to a stop. That was the conclusion he had reached.
    “Fine, I’ll take the first shift, along with… Her.”
    Shikomizue looked towards Kiriririri, who had just finished drawing a strange symbol in the grass.
    “Alright then, let’s get that fire going and—”
    “Get down, something is coming.”
    Norleas reached behind his back and fished out the two daggers he was storing in his jacket, then crouched down, signaling for the others to do the same.
    The group gathered together, and those who had them drew their weapons.
    “What did you see?”
    Shikomizue did not have to wait for a response, as a large bear, covered in metal plating, walked past them. It was looking around, like it was searching for the group. It looked… Off. It looked intelligent, just like the other beasts they had fought that day.
    “Something is definitely not right with these things. They started attacking us right after we formed a team. Almost like… Someone doesn’t want us to team up.”
    Shikomizue thought to himself, as he recalled the days events. Actually, every time they had been away for combat for a certain period of time, something would come and attack them.
    Almost like something, or someone, were controlling them. If that was the case, then...
    “Master, behind you!”
    Sayaka shouted to himself, and jumped forward. In the next second, a large paw covered in metal slammed down on the very spot Sayaka had been standing.
    Reaching into his maid uniform, Sayaka fished out a strange statue, in the shape of an anime figure.
    “They know we’re here master, so we might as well make some noise.”
    Turning the head of the statue around 180 degrees, Sayaka threw it behind the tree, where the second bear had attacked from.
    “Everyone, if you don’t want to go boom, I suggest you run!”
    Moments later, the figure exploded, turning the ground beneath it to ash, blowing the bear to bits in the process.
    The other bear was alerted to their presence, and jumped at Norleas, who slashed at its snout with his daggers before it had time to react. The beast roared in pain, and slammed its massive paw towards Norleas, who elegantly jumped out of the paws path, and went in for another attack.
    While the plate armor proved to be an obstacle, Norleas still managed to bring the massive beast down in a matter of seconds, as a flurry of dagger cuts tore into its hide like it was butter, always finding the unprotected parts of the bears body.

    Meanwhile, Shikomizue was fending of two wolves with his wakizashi katanas, holding back one wolf with each blade, as he pressed them against the wolves sharp fangs.
    “Where is #6? Someone cover her.”
    “Yes, yes, Master and I got her, don’t worry.”
    Throwing explosive statues at everything that moved inside the forest, Sayaka jumped around Kiriririri, who was sitting on the ground, watching the fighting happen around her with an indifferent expression.
    “Ohh, we’re gonna make master so proud, yes we are, tralala.”
    Sayaka sang as he looked up at the sky, throwing statues now seemingly at random. A few landed close to Norleas, but he simply moved out of their path with incredible speed each time, still slashing and stabbing any beast that came in his way with his daggers.
     
    The group fended off countless beasts, until finally, only one remained. It was a massive tiger, also covered in metal plating like the bears from before. The beast’s eyes were glowing in a strange blue light, and it moved faster than any other creature they had fought so far.
    Sayaka had tried throwing several statues at it, but it always got out of the blast zone before it was damaged.
    Norleas was unable to get close to the beast as well, as it was simply too fast.
    Shikomizue knew they were out of options.
    “Tch… Is this really how it ends?”
    He clicked his tongue, and started to walk towards the beast while he shook his head.
    “Am I really doing this?”
    After glancing over his shoulder, taking another look at his three teammates, Shikomizue nodded, and closed his eyes.
    “Listen up. I know what’s going on. These things are being controlled by someone. As long as we’re in a group, we’ll be sitting ducks. They are either being controlled by whoever started this fucked up game... Someone who wants us to keep fighting, or it’s another contender, in which case we should split up to try and find the bastard.
    So...  Guys, split up. Run. For now, just get as far away from each other as possible.”
    “GRAAWRH!”
    Like it understood what Shikomizue was saying, the tiger roared, and charged at the group. It was not happy.
    “Yes come on, you stupid cat.”
    Shikomizue charged as well, running straight ahead, towards the beast’s fangs.
    Then…
    “GUAAH!”
    Shikomizue screamed in pain, as the tiger bit him, its large fangs digging into his left side.
    “I’ll keep this thing at bay… You guys… Run away… Now!”
    Lifting up his free arm, Shikomizue gripped his katana firmly, and slashed at the tiger’s front legs, which were not covered by armor. That should slow it down. The thing was, it would have been impossible to target its legs without making it stop first. And, the only way to do that was to make it stop moving, for instance, by letting it bite one of them. Shikomizue had realized this a while ago, as he watched his comrades fail to hit the beast, and he had given his own life so that the other three could live.
    “You guys better figure out what the fuck is going on here, and stop this ‘game’, alright?”
    Shikomizue looked over his shoulder, watching as his allies ran into different directions. No beasts chased them.
    Pleased that he his plan had worked, Shikomizue fished out a cigarette from pocket, and moved it to his mouth, his hand shaking. He didn’t have anything to light it with, but he still put it in his mouth, and took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
    That was his last breath.
         
     
    Norleas walked through the forest in silence. His daggers were still dripping with blood from the countless monsters he had killed. Still, he had not even broken a sweat. Killing was his job, after all. It was a breath of fresh air for him to kill beasts instead of people.
    It was strange. The person whose job was to take people’s lives had chosen to join an alliance to avoid killing others.
    It was different this time, after all. The people in question were his friends. His fellow Fuwanovel users. There was no way he could kill them.
    Sensing something moving behind him, Norleas gripped his dagger, and prepared for battle. But…
    “Oh, it’s just you.”
    He lowered his weapons. Behind him stood the strange girl from before, Kiriririri.
    “What, didn’t you hear what the boss said? We’re supposed to split up. What, are you scared in the dark by yourself?”
    Kiriririri didn't’ say anything. She simply lifted her arm, pointing into the darkness behind Norleas.
    “What? What is… It…”
    Norleas turned around to look at what she was pointing at, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Looking down at his own stomach, he saw a silvery blade sticking out from his chest, covered in fresh blood.
    “Wh-What…”
    “Hehe.”
    The laughter of a little girl was the last thing he heard, as his lifeless body fell to the floor.
    Kiriririri pulled the sword out of Norleas’ corpse, and it soon turned into light particles, vanishing into thin air.
    Kiriririri then simply kept walking through the forest with an emotionless expression.

     
     
     
    Kiriririri: Status = Alive
    Sayaka: Status = Alive



     
    Wildcards This Week?
    None
     
    Dead This Week:
    Still Alive:
     
  9. Dergonu
    Chapter 2: Death In The City
     
    Members in this chapter:
    “Tch. Where did that little worm go?”
    VirginSmasher came to a halt as he scanned the area. The blazing sun made the asphalt below his feet feel like liquid magma, and the light from the sun reflected in the countless windows around him, making it even harder to spot his target. VirginSmasher had been one of the Fuwanovel members picked for the second week of the death game, and he had already been caught in a fight with another user. But, after a few minutes of battle, his opponent had fled, and VirginSmasher lost sight of him.
    “I was this close, too…”
    Kicking the ground in frustration, VirginSmasher made the asphalt below his feet explode into a million pieces, sending rubble and dust flying around the area. His powers were quite simple. His strength and agility had been increased tenfold, essentially making him a human wrecking ball. Problem was, the person he had been chasing had some kind of teleportation ability, making it impossible for VirginSmasher to land a hit.
    “Ugh… What’s with this arena though?”
    VirginSmasher looked up at the sky. He was standing in the centre of a massive city, in the middle of summer. It had to be at least thirty degrees in the sun, so all the moving around made him feel like he was melting.
    “Last week they got a nice and cool forest, yet we’re stuck in this hellhole. What a jok— Huh?!”
    Sensing something approaching from above, VirginSmasher sidestepped and turned to face whatever it was. Two arrows graced his throat, and slammed into the ground behind him, producing two large holes in the concrete.
    A thin trail of blood ran down VirginSmasher’s neck. Had he moved just a fraction of a second later, he’d be dead.
    “Heh. Looks like I got some new pray.”
    VirginSmasher said with a smile, as he looked up at his new opponent.
    “...”
    Sitting on the top of a nearby telephone pole was Alden_0023, pointing a strung bow at VirginSmasher. Alden wore a grey cloak, with a quiver on his back and a range of different throwing knives stuck to his belt.
    “I won’t miss a second time.”
    Alden stated in an indifferent tone, and before VirginSmasher could even move an inch, Alden sent another arrow towards his target. The arrow soared through the air with incredible velocity. VirginSmasher barely managed to react in time, slamming the arrow out of the air with his palm. The arrowtip dug into his hand, ripping through the flesh like it was butter.
    “Hmph!”
    Not bothered by the pain one bit, VirginSmasher slammed his right hand into the ground, and a large crack in the concrete moved towards the telephone pole, which started to collapse moments later.
    Alden leapt in the air, and after a graceful backlip, he reached for another two arrows, and fired them both at his target, before landing on another telephone pole about ten meters away from the previous one.
    This time VirginSmasher managed to dodge the arrows completely, and jumped towards his opponent. It was an impossible leap for a normal human. The ground below his foot cracked, and VirginSmasher’s body shot forward. In the air, he thrust his healthy hand towards Alden’s chest, then, before hitting his opponent, he twisted his arm sideways and opened his palm, producing a shockwave which pushed Alden off the telephone pole.
    “Kuh…”
    Alden groaned in pain, but still managed to fire another arrow at VirginSmasher before he landed on the ground. While the arrow did not hit VirginSmasher, it distracted him for long enough to keep him off Alden’s tail for another second.
    That second was all Alden needed. With incredible speed, he sprinted towards a nearby building, and jumped up on the wall. As if his feet were layered with glue, Alden ran straight up the wall, firing several arrows at VirginSmasher in the process.
    “Tch, the hell is with this guy?!”
    Dodging the arrows by a hair's breadth every time, VirginSmasher danced around on the ground below as the barrage of arrows rained down from above.
    “Guess I’m switching to long range attacks as well. Hmph!”
    Grabbing a nearby piece of rubble, VirginSmasher threw it up at Alden as hard as he could. The concrete block split up into several smaller pieces as it moved towards its target, smashing into the building with a loud bang. Broken glass and rubble fell towards the street below, as a large chunk of the building was torn apart from the impact.
    “Did I get him?”
    VirginSmasher squinted, trying to find Alden in the middle of the chaos. He soon spotted the shadow of a person rushing out from the rubble, and right after, several small objects flew towards him at great speeds.
    “Tch, more arrows?!”
    VirginSmasher prepared for another volley of arrows, but what was thrown at him was in fact just some rubble from the building.
    “Shit!”
    Realizing the attack was just a distraction, VirginSmasher spun around.
    “Got you.”
    Alden released the bowstring, and sent an arrow flying towards VirginSmasher’s exposed back. Although he did notice Alden’s trick in time for him to turn around, he did not manage to dodge the arrow, which dug into VirginSmasher’s chest.
    “Guaah!”
    VirginSmasher reached for the arrow, and snapped it in half. Then, he grabbed the arrowhead which was sticking out of his back, and ripped the arrow out of his torso.
    Meanwhile, Alden landed on the ground about twenty meters away. Although his physical abilities were heightened, he had still fallen about ten meters, so he needed a second to collect himself after the landing.
    “You little bastard!”
    VirginSmasher rushed towards Alden, filled with rage. The pain from the wound in his chest only fueled his anger. Putting all of his remaining strength into one last attack, VirginSmasher charged his enemy.
    “You don’t… give up, do you?”
    Scrambling to his feet, Alden reached for another arrow. While he had not been injured from the fall, it had knocked the air out of him, making it difficult for him to avoid VirginSmasher’s sudden charge.
    “Haah!”
    VirginSmasher lunged at Alden with everything he had. Alden barely managed to throw himself to the side, dropping his bow in the process. VirginSmasher’s hand collided with the wooden bow, smashing it into a million pieces.
    “Heh, what are you going to do now?”
    VirginSmasher spat out, as he watched the pieces of Alden’s weapon fall to the ground before him.
    “This.”
    A sharp pain spread through VirginSmasher’s body, as Alden seemingly threw something in his direction.
    “Huh…?”
    Looking down at his own body, he saw three throwing knives buried into his chest.
    “Well, fuck…”
    The world around VirginSmasher grew cloudy, but he did not collapse right away.
    “I’ll at least… take you with me…”
    Raising his trembling arm into the air, VirginSmasher tried to charge at Alden one last time, but before he could move, another set of throwing knives dug into his torso.
    “...”
    As the life left VirginSmasher’s body, he managed to flip off Alden before his dead body collided with the ground below.
    Meanwhile, on the top of the tallest building in the city:
    Two figures stood face to face on the roof of a skyscraper, located in the centre of town. They were too high up to see or hear the commotion happening below.
    “Heh, so you finally caught up to me, huh? I was hoping I could avoid fighting...”
    Mr Poltroon paused and eyed his opponent, adjusting one of his white gloves.
    “I’d especially like to avoid fighting you of all people.”
    With a wry smile, Mr Poltroon took a step back, moving towards the ledge of the skyscraper.
    “... Sorry.”
    Snapping his fingers, Kaguya created a force field around the roof, trapping the two of them inside.
    “*Sigh*... That’s what I thought. Well, I guess only one of us gets out of this thing.”
    Mr Poltroon tilted his head to the side, and smiled wryly once again.
    “I don’t suppose I could talk you out of this?”
    Kaguya didn’t respond, and instead brought his hands together. His entire figure was drowned in a bright white light, and the outline of a moon appeared above his head.
    "<蓬莱の薬>"
    <Hourai elixir>
    A small flask appeared in Kaguya’s hands, and he quickly brought it to his mouth, emptying the bottle in a second.
    Hourai elixir, also known as the elixir of life. Those who drinks from it are, in short, immortal for a set period of time. Even if Poltroon destroyed Kaguya’s body while he was under the effect of the potion, he would just regenerate. In other words, Poltroon had to stall until the potion wore off if he wanted to win.
    Summoning his trusty cane into his hands, Poltroon struck a cool pose and prepared for battle.
    “I suppose it would be rude to attack first, so I’ll wait for you, kind sir.”
    “You’re fighting with that?”
    Kaguya looked at Poltroon’s cane.
    “What, is it not to your liking? I find it quite dashing, personally.”
    Kaguya shook his head, and jumped towards Poltroon, and unleashed a flurry of punches at an impossible speed. Poltroon blocked each punch with the back of his cane, deflecting the attacks with ease.
    “Not bad. I expected nothing less from one of my underlings.”
    A smile spread across Kaguya’s face. It would not be such a short battle after all.
    Kaguya attacked again, but this time he conjured two blades of pure moonlight in his hands, slashing at Poltroon’s body.
    Still, Poltroon deflected the attacks with his cane. The blades did not leave a single scratch in the wood. Needless to say, it was no ordinary stick. With each attack Poltroon stopped, Kaguya unleashed another.
    Realizing he would eventually get hit if he didn’t do something, Poltroon leapt backwards, distancing himself from Kaguya. As Kaguya was about to give chase, Poltroon thrust the tip of his cane into the ground, creating four large circles before him.
    Kaguya was not sure what they were, but did not really care, because of his immortality. Even if it did end up hurting him, he’d just heal right back anyways. Ignoring the suspicious circles, Kaguya rushed towards Poltroon.
    The moment Kaguya’s foot grazed one of the circles, a powerful force puashed Kaguya’s body to the ground, pinning him down.
    A gravity trap.
    “Kuh… You think this will hold me?”
    Kaguya’s body started shaking, as he used everything he had to force himself onto his feet. With sluggish movements, he moved off the circle, and was released from the magic infused in the trap.
    “Guess it won’t be that simple.”
    Poltroon raised his cane, and prepared for another one of Kaguya’s onslaughts.
    The two moderators were caught in an intense fight for over twenty minutes. Kaguya was on the offensive the entire time, while Poltroon deflected most of the attacks coming his way. He did get a few hits in himself, too. But, each attack that hit Kaguya was useless as long as the elixir was in effect. The roof they were standing on had been all but destroyed, and the barrier kaguya had raised was long gone.
    “Haah, haah, haah…”
    “Haah… Haah…”
    The two were catching their breath, taking a short break from the intense fight.
    “It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to finish you like this.”
    Kaguya raised his arm above his head, and the sky above grew cloudy. Thick clouds moved in front of the sun, leaving the city covered in darkness.
    “I have to praise you for pushing me this far. But, this is where it ends.”
    “<満月>”
    <Full Moon>
    Kaguya started hovering above the ground, and slowly floated up into the sky. Above him, the clouds began to disperse, but the sun was nowhere in sight. In its place was the moon, dyed in an ominous shade of red.
    Large spheres of moon energy formed around Kaguya’s body, and with a snap of his fingers, Kaguya sent the spheres raining down onto Poltroon.
    “Hmph!”
    Poltroon knocked the first two out of the air, sending them crashing into the adjacent buildings. But, he could not stop them all. Eventually, one of the spheres hit Poltroon’s body, knocking him through the roof, hurling him down into the floor below.
    “Ouch…”
    Lifting his body up from the rubble, Poltroon tried to come up with a plan. If he didn’t do something, Kaguya would turn him into dust within a few minutes.
    Poltroon made his way towards a nearby window, where he had a clear view of Kaguya, who was sending more spheres into the building. Explosions erupted all around Poltroon. It was only a matter of time before one of them hit him. Looking up at Kaguya, then down towards the street below, Poltroon made up his mind. He had no choice but to flee.
    “Well, here goes nothing.”
    Poltroon brushed some rubble off his shoulder, then jumped forward, crashing through the window before him. Tumbling towards the asphalt below, Poltroon knocked down another sphere, which Kaguya shot after him.
    “Running, are we?”
    Kaguya gave chase, flying after Poltroon, sending several spheres towards him. Poltroon kept knocking them out of the air, as he approached the ground below.
    “I won’t let you get away.”
    Kaguya kept on firing sphere after sphere towards Poltroon. Meanwhile, the street below was growing closer and closer.
    The situation was dire. Even if Poltroon slowed his fall and landed safely, he would simply not be able to run away from Kaguya.
    In a desperate attempt to slow him down, Poltroon conjured several magic circles along the wall of the skyscraper beside them. Kaguya saw Poltroon’s trick coming, and easily avoided the traps by simply stopping his fall before he reached them, hovering about thirty meters above the ground.
    But what Kaguya did not expect was that the spheres he fired towards Poltroon were also affected by the traps. They were pulled in by the magical circle, and large explosions erupted all over the bottom part of the building, making the already damaged skyscraper collapse completely.
    Hundreds of tons of rubble, steel and glass tumbled towards the two moderators.
    Poltroon, who had somehow managed to brace his fall with a spell, just barely managed to move away from the rubble before it crashed into the ground. But, since Kaguya was thirty meters above, he did not have as much time, and the rubble pulled him down with it, pinning him below the massive pile of debris.
    Kaguya's immortality potion was still in effect, but even someone as strong as him would not be able to lift the hundreds of tons that rested on top of his body. Once the elixir’s effect ran out, he would be crushed to death by the rubble.
    “... Phew.”
    Mr Poltroon let out a sigh, and started to walk along the street, his entire body aching from the exhausting battle. As Kaguya’s power began to vanish, the clouds he had conjured dispersed completely, and the sun once again began to shine down on the city.
     
    A few minutes later, across town:
    Weiterfechten was walking through a back alley, lifting up his top hat as he wiped som sweat from his brow with the cuff of his victorian tuxedo. His attire did not exactly help against the scorching heat.
    He had seen a battle unfold a few blocks away some minutes ago, and chose to get away from them as quickly as he could, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. While a battle between two members could mean a possible easy kill for him if he snuck up on them, it was apparent from a mile away that the two fighting were not normal members. Weiterfechten had fled as soon as the giant balls of energy began raining from the sky.
    “Hm?”
    Noticing something stir in the darkness a few meters in front of him, Weiterfechten came to a stop, and reached for his fencing sword, which was resting in a hilt over his left hip.
    “Who’s there?”
    A small girl walked out from the shadows of the dark alley, gazing at Weiterfechten with an emotionless expression.
    Had he not watched last week’s game, Weiterfechten might have thought of the little girl as a defenseless bystander. But, he knew better. He had seen the little girl stab her “ally” in the back in cold blood, laughing.
    “Funny I should run into you here, little girl. The person you killed last week happened to be a good friend of mine. I shall take this opportunity to avenge him.”
    Kiriririri opened her small hand, and a beautiful sword with a silver blade and a golden hilt appeared out of thin air.
    She then brought the blade behind her head, and took a swing at Weiterfechten, who quickly drew his own sword and blocked the attack. Despite being a little girl, she was strong. The impact of her attack made Weiterfechten take a step back, and a dull pain ran down his arm. She was no ordinary girl, that much was obvious.
    “初ノ型〈紫電〉”
    <First strike: Purple Lightning>
    Kiriririri whispered and closed her eyes. Then, her blade glowed in a purple light, and she cut at the place Weiterfechten had been standing.
    Being a skilled fencer, Weiterfechten jumped out of the way on instinct, which was smart of him, as a deep cut ran through the ground where he had been standing just moments before. The light that erupted from the girl’s sword looked like lava melting its way through steel, as steam rose from the cut in the ground.
    While the girl seemed to lack technical skills with her sword, she made up for it in brute strength.
    If Weiterfechten was going to win, he had to wait for the right opportunity, preferably right after the girl used one of her attacks.
    Testing her out a bit, Weiterfechten thrust his blade at the girl. Like he thought, she moved awkwardly, and barely managed to deflect his attack. But, as he tried to move in for another thrust, the girl’s blade began to glow once again, and she unleashed another purple ray of light from her sword. The light grazed Weiterfechten’s jacket, setting it on fire. He ripped off the jacket in a fluster, and threw it onto the ground.
    “Careful with that thing. You’ll poke someone’s eye out.”
    Weiterfechten pointed at Kiriririri’s sword.
    “You know, I really liked that jacket. Now I’m even more angrier.”
    Weiterfechten sent several precise attacks Kiriririri’s way, trying to prevent her from unleashing more of her pesky attacks. He focused on stabbing at her right side, forcing her to keep her dominant arm back, which in turn, meant she couldn’t raise her sword.
    “二ノ型〈流星〉”
    <Second strike - Meteor>
    Pushed back by Weiterfechten’s onslaught, Kiriririri whispered the name of a different attack. Thinking he’d be fine as long as she couldn’t use her sword, Weiterfechten kept pushing forward. Then…
    “Whoa!”
    Barely managing to notice before it was to late, Weiterfechten jumped awkwardly to the side, as a purple circle started forming around his legs. Right as he jumped out of the circle, a rock dyed in the same color as the circle crashed into the ground, digging about a meter into the dirt before it came to a stop. Thick smoke rose from the small crater, making Weiterfechten cover his mouth with his arm.
    “What the hell… Hm?”
    Looking at the girl again, Weiterfechten noticed that she was breathing heavier than before. While that could just have been because she was dodging his attacks, another idea popped into his mind. Could it be that the special attacks she was using tired her out? If that was the case, all he had to do was keep avoiding her strikes, and he should be able to land a killing blow.
    “Phew… Hmph!”
    After catching calming his own breathing, Weiterfechten stepped forward, once again resuming his attacks. Kiriririri did not even try to deflect his attacks with her sword, and dodged them the best she could instead. Although her movements were awkward, they were really fast, so landing a hit became quite challenging, even for someone as skilled as Weiterfechten. Her small build made the task even harder, as his target was much smaller than he was used to.
    Kiriririri suddenly took a step back, and her blade began to glow again.
    “Here it comes.”
    Weiterfechten thought to himself, and prepared for another one of Kiriririri’s attacks.
    Kiriririri brought her blade above her head, and sent the biggest ray of light yet flying towards Weiterfechten. It moved faster than the previous attacks, too, making it even harder to dodge. Moving out of its way by a hair’s breadth, Weiterfechten felt the heat of the purple light searing his skin as it rushed past him.
    “Guh…”
    Staggering for a second due to the incredible heat, Weiterfechten took a moment to regain his balance, then moved in for a counterattack while Kiriririri herself was recovering from the powerful attack.
    “Hmph!”
    Weiterfechten thrust his fencing sword towards the little girl’s chest. The blade moved towards Kiriririri at high speed, and for the first time in the entire fight, Kiriririri’s expression was filled with emotion, as her eyes shot open in fear.
    The sudden resistance of human flesh made Weiterfechten’s arm come to a halt.
    But, he had not hit the target he expected. Kiriririri had moved her left arm in front of the blade in the last second, and the tip of Weiterfechten’s sword had been stopped a few inches from Kiriririri’s body. Fresh blood ran down her arm, and her expression twisted in pain. Nevertheless, she raised her right arm high above her head, gripping the hilt of her sword firmly.
    終ノ型〈天絶閃衝(ラスト・ パフェ)〉
    <Final strike - The last Parfait >
    After she stated the attack’s ludicrous name, her blade lit up in a brilliant purple light, and Kiriririri cut at Weiterfechten’s body.
    Weiterfechten jumped back, letting go of his own sword, to at least avoid the attack, but it was no use. The glowing blade grew longer, like it was chasing him, and even though he jumped a good meter and a half back, the blade reached his body with ease, carving into his flesh, making fresh blood sprout from his chest.
    “Graaagh!”
    Letting out a primal scream, Weiterfechten collapsed.
    "Hehe."
    Kiriririri looked down at Weiterfechten's corpse, and chuckled.
     
     
    Wildcards This Week?
    Yes (A user has recieved a second life. Read details about wildcards here.)
     
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    Hope you enjoyed! See you again next week! (Let me know if you find any issues/ inconsistencies!)
  10. Dergonu
    Chapter 3: Madness


     
    The mastermind behind the Fuwanovel death game watched the two screens on the desk before him/her with a wicked smile.

    "Seven dead already, heh. This is going well."

    The video from the past two weeks of the battle royale had been playing on the screens in a loop for hours, with the faces of the four picked for the current week displayed on a different monitor above.

    "Hehe. Now, let's see, what kind of arena should I put these four in?"

    "Mind if I handle that?"

    "Huh?!"

    Taken completely aback by the presence of someone else in the control room, <??> nearly fell out of his/her chair.

    "How the hell did you get in here?!"

    "Hmph. You think your weak magic can control me? Please. I was bored, so I figured I'd join in on this weird game you have going on. So, with that said, I'll be taking over for a bit, heh."

    With that, Clephas devoured <??>, trapping them in one of his stomachs.

    "Now, let's have some fun. Hmm, these four, huh? Alright. Let's begin."

    Using his powers to summon the four members from their cells, Clephas devoured them all in an instant.


     
    The First Stomach - alden_0023 & Thatcomicguy


     
    The first thing Thatcomicguy noticed was the smell of blood. Opening his eyes, he could tell that he was no longer in his cell.

    "Come on... Was I picked again?"

    Getting off the floor, he shook his head in frustration. He had fought for his life against another Fuwanovel user in the death game just two weeks before. He was hoping he would be able to avoid being picked again for at least a few more weeks. But, he had no such luck.

    "Where the hell am I...?"

    Looking around in confusion, he could tell he was in a classroom. The windows in the room were shattered, and the walls were riddled with holes and cracks. The floor was also badly damaged, covered in claw marks of all things.

    What on earth had happened there before he woke up?

    "Hnng..."

    Noticing some rustling coming from the other side of the classroom, Thatcomicguy gripped his spear and got ready for a possible fight.

    "Ugh, my head..."

    Alden_0023 rubbed his forehead, slowly getting to his feet. The moment he spotted Thatcomicguy standing in the other side of the classroom, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

    Then, in the next moment.

    "Hah!"

    Drawing his bow with incredible speed, he sent an arrow flying through the room. Barely managing to block the arrow with his shield, Thatcomicguy started running through the room towards the door, trying to escape.

    Another arrow flew towards him, barely missing his neck before digging into a nearby desk. Having reached the door, Thatcomicguy kicked it as hard as he could, making the door fly open. His hands were full because of his weapon and shield, and he had no time to spare, as Alden prepared another arrow.

    But, the moment the door flew open, both men suddenly froze in place. It was a natural reaction. Anyone would be shocked by the sight that waited on the other side of that door.

    A group of six small figures sat hunched over a corpse, happily chewing at its flesh. They had already eaten a great deal of the corpse, and their small bodies were covered in fresh blood.

    "Wh-What... the fuck?"

    The group of small girls suddenly stopped eating, and turned towards the two men in the classroom. While they might have looked like normal young girls at first glance, they had two features that no human child had. First, their teeth. The mouths of the girls were covered in shark like teeth, each tooth about ten centimeter in length. As a result, it was impossible for the girls to even close their mouths. Their eyes were glowing in a bright red color, and their pupils were completely gone. The entire eye was simply covered entirely in the red light.

    "Cannibal... lolis... Seriously?"

    Thatcomicguy uttered in a voice dyed in confusion and dread.

    "..."

    Realizing the situation was quite dire, Alden lowered his bow, and ran towards one of the broken windows along the classroom wall, then leapt through it.

    "HEY! ARE YOU LEAVING ME WITH THESE THINGS?!"

    Ignoring Thatcomicguy, Alden performed a forward flip in the air, then prepared his body for the fall. It seemed like the school they had woken up in was quite big, and they were on the sixth floor. But, contrary to his expectations, Alden's body did not fall at all. Instead, he was pulled up, flying towards the roof of the school.

    "What in the..."

    Soaring up past classroom after classroom, Alden reached the roof of the building, but his body showed no signs of stopping. He was literally falling upwards.

    "Tch."

    Clicking his tongue, Alden grabbed a hold of the railing covering the school roof, managing to stop his "fall" in the last second. Pulling his body towards the roof, he gripped the railing as he slowly moved towards the fire escape leading back into the school. The moment his foot moved inside the school building, he force pulling him upwards let go.
    It seemed like moving outside the school was out of the question. The bizarre arena was nothing like the arenas used the previous weeks.

    "What on earth is going on..."

    Meanwhile

    "AHHH, get away, get away, get away, AHHH!"

    Thatcomicguy screamed, as he ran as fast as he could through the dark hallways of the school. Just a few meters behind him were five of the six small girls, giggling as they chased him.

    He had managed to kill one of them with his spear in his escape from the classroom. This did not seem to anger the rest at all, as they chased happily after Thatcomicguy. It seemed like the girls had the ability to retract their teeth, and were now humming and laughing. Still, their eyes glowed. It was clear that their eyes were filled with bloodlust. If he stopped for just a moment, they'd probably rip him to shreds.

    "Tehehe, I love playing tag."

    "We're gonna get you, we're gonna get you ~~"

    "GO PLAY WITH SOMEONE ELSE, AHH!"

    Still screaming, Thatcomicguy kept running at full speed down the hallway, until...

    "Shit..."

    He reached a dead end. The stairs leading down to the floor below were blocked by a massive pile of rubble. The roof above had collapsed, also covering the stairs going up in the process. In other words, he was trapped.

    The small girls were now just half a meter away.

    "Tag. You're it!"

    The girls opened their mouths, and their fangs once again sprouted out.

    Preparing for what would most likely be his final battle, Thatcomicguy took a deep breath.

    "I'm naked in front of a group of lolis, pointing a spear at them. That's a headline for yah."

    Crack.

    A sound coming from above made Thatcomicguy look up towards the roof, and soon after, a big chunk of the ceiling came crashing down, landing on top of two of the girls, squishing them.

    "WHOA!"

    Sitting on top of the rubble was Alden, his body covered in small cuts. Or, were they bite marks?

    "Ah..."

    Realizing what that meant, Thatcomicguy looked towards the hole in the roof, and sure enough, peeking down from above were even more of the rabid lolis, looking at Alden like he was a delicious looking plate of food.

    "... Sorry dude, looks like this isn't your day."

    With that, Thatcomicguy stood completely still, as the hoard of cannibalistic lolis swarmed Alden, biting through his flesh and bones like it was nothing. The sight was horrifying, making Thatcomicguy look away in disgust.
    Taking advantage of the situation, he quietly snuck past the hoard of killer lolis, covering his eyes the entire time. He then started making his way down the hallway, leaving the little monsters to their dinner.




     
    The Second Stomach - xGreyHound & Jazid-Kun


     
    A jungle of mysterious plants in all sorts of colors stretched as far as the eye could see. A nearby river was filled not with water, but lava, and the sky was dyed red, not blue.

    In the middle of this impossible jungle stood Jazid-Kun, looking around him with a smile.

    "What a fitting stage for bloodbath. Heh."

    Striking a cool pose, Jazid spoke in a dramatic tone of voice. Wearing a black school uniform and with an eye patch covering his left eye, Jazid did not exactly look like he belonged in the strange jungle. If not for the two large swords in crossed sheathes on his back, he would have just looked like any other high-school student.

    "Chaos shall rain! Today, we dine with death himself!"

    "... The hell are you on kid?"

    xGreyHound sent Jazid a confused look, gripping his AK-47 firmly. He was on guard, prepared for the worst. The arena he had been placed in seemed even crazier than any of the previous ones.

    GreyHound did not have it in him to kill a kid like Jazid, so he had approached Jazid with the suggestion of an alliance. Jazid accepted, though now he was going on some kind of chuunibyou rant, which made GreyHound instantly regret his decision.

    "Please kid, be quiet..."

    "Let the curtain fall on this blood drenched play! Let the games begin!"

    Jazid shouted, stretching his arms up towards the red sky.

    "... I swear, I will smack you over the head if you don't quiet down."

    "Hah! A mere mortal like yourself? You wouldn't be able to lay a finger on me."

    Rustle.

    "?!"

    A nearby plant started stirring. GreyHound quickly pointed his gun in the direction of the sound. Another plant started to move, then another. Before long, every single plant in their vicinity had started to move. At first, GreyHound thought the movement was caused by something moving through the plants, but... that wasn't it. The plants themselves were moving.
    Clearly a little weirded out by the moving plants, Jazid moved a few steps closer to GreyHound.

    "I, uh... I shall protect you, mortal!"

    "Yeah, whatever, just draw your weapons at least."

    "Kukuku. You mean these?"

    Jazid gestured towards his swords.

    "I cannot simply draw them out of their sheathe without the proper chant. They are sealed by a powerful—"

    "Get down!"

    GreyHound pushed Jazid to the side, as a giant vine shot out from one of the strange flowers. The vine was covered in strange spikes, reminiscent of teeth. It slammed into the ground mercilessly, making its sharp spikes dig into the dirt.

    "Y-You cannot scare me, for I am... I am..."

    "Shut up and run!"

    GreyHound turned around and darted into a clearing, as several more giant plant monsters approached the two.

    "Y-Yes sir!"

    Following suit, Jazid ran as fast as he could after his teammate. Just a second after, five more giant veins slammed into the place he had been standing.

    "Wh-What are those thin—"

    "Duck!"

    Interrupting Jazid once again, GreyHound shouted a command and pointed his gun toward Jazid's face. Doing as he was told Jazid quickly ducked down, and the massive mouth of a bizarre plant closed right above him, catching some of his hair in its massive jaws.

    "Dieee!"

    GreyHound fired several rounds into the head of the strange plant, making green goo fly everywhere. The plant let out a deafening screech and backed up a few steps, hissing at the two. It's mouth was layered with more teeth than a shark, each one at least five centimeters long. In addition to its killer bite, it also had several long vines covered in spikes sprouting from its body. It was the height of a human man, and moved incredibly fast.

    "Over there! Run to the lava!"

    "L-Lava? Are you crazy? I-I mean, lava would have no power over my immortal body, of course, but you are just a normal human, so it would surely be in trouble."

    "Just shut up and run."

    Turning back towards the way they had come, the two started running towards the strange lava stream, about fifty meters away. The stream was no more than one meter in width, but if GreyHound's theory was right, it would do.

    "We're jumping over that. Get ready."

    Not waiting for his ally to reply, GreyHound leapt across the lava stream. The intense heat from just being in the vicinity of the lava made even just breathing hurt, but it was better than being devoured by flesh eating plants the size of humans.

    Jazid made it across the lava soon after GreyHound.

    "Kuku. Looks like our plant friends were not so smart after all."

    At least twenty of the killer plants tried to follow them, but they all let out loud shrieks as they approached the lava, and took several swift steps back. They were clearly not fond of the heat.

    "We have no time to waste here. There could be more. Come on."

    "Look out!"

    As GreyHound turned his back on the plants and started to walk in the other direction, several of the strange creatures sent their vines flying towards the two humans. It seemed like there was no real limit to how far the vines could stretch, and they approached GreyHound's back with great speed.

    "Hah!"

    But, just moments before they were about to tear GreyHound to shreds, the vines themselves got cut into tiny pieces.

    "Hmph. To think you'd make me take off my eye patch. I'm surprised you'd push me this far."

    GreyHound turned around to see what had happened. Sure enough, Jazid's eye patch was gone, revealing an eye with a different color from the other. He had also drawn his swords, which were covered in green goo from cutting apart the vines.
    Jazid had somehow managed to remove his eye patch, draw his swords, then cut several vines within a matter of seconds. GreyHound could not help but be amazed at the spectacle, and thanked his teammate for saving his life.

    Rustle. Rustle.

    Something started moving in the leaves behind the killer plants, and Jazid stood rooted in place, watching whatever it was intently.

    "Come on kid, more of those things are coming from the looks of things. We gotta go."

    GreyHound did not wait for a reply, and started to walk away from the lava and the plants. But, Jazid did not move.

    "Kid, I will leave you, I swear! What are you even... looking... at..."

    GreyHound's voice began to falter, as he too laid eyes on the creature on the other side of the lava. It took the form of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. She wasn't wearing a thing, and on top of her head were two pretty cat ears. Wagging back and forth behind her legs was a fuzzy tail. It was, without a doubt, a catgirl. An incredibly beautiful one, too.
    Being fans of visual novels and the likes, both men knew very well what she was. While she appeared harmless, the fact that the plants were not killing her was a clear warning sign in GreyHound's mind.

    "We gotta get the hell out of here, now!"

    Jazid did not respond, but instead started to move slowly towards the catgirl, dropping his swords on the ground.

    "Wait, what the hell are you doing!"

    Jazid showed no interest in GreyHound, and kept on slowly approaching the catgirl, who looked back at them with an enchanting smile.

    "Dude, this is not the time for your weird ass fantasies! We have to get out of here. Guh?!"

    GreyHound tried to reach out for Jazid's hand, but he had gotten so close to the lava, the heat made GreyHound jump back in reflex.

    There was nothing GreyHound could do but watch, as Jazid slowly walked into the scorching heat of the lava, seemingly under some kind of spell cast by the mysterious catgirl. He did not even blink at the pain from having his foot melted by the incredible heat. All he did was watch the catgirl on the other side of the lava stream, with a smile on his face.

    After a few seconds, Jazid's body had been completely consumed by the lava.

    "Y-You bitch, what did you do to him?!"

    Pointing his gun at the catgirl in anger, GreyHound's body shook in terror. The creature simply returned a brilliant smile, and started to walk back into the depths of the strange jungle. The flesh eating plants followed suit, leaving GreyHound alone with nothing but the smell of burning flesh, and a sense of dread.


     


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  11. Dergonu
    This is going to be a guide on how to buy digital VNs legally on Gyutto, using Tsui Yuri ~ as an example.
     
    This can indeed be done from a foreign IP adress, so no proxy is needed. That being said, the entire website is in Japanese, so here is a guide with pictures and steps, walking you through it. (NOTE! You must be 18+ in order to make purchases here, obviously.)
     
     
    NOTE: NSFW PICTURES ON THE SITE!
    Link to the Tsui Yuri ~ purchase page
     
     
     
    Go ahead and add the game to your cart, like this:
     
     
    Now go ahead and click LOG IN AS GUEST. For those of you who cannot read moon runes, click the box with the big red circle. Note, should they ever change the layout of their site, just find the big box with these moon runes and click it. (NOTE AGAIN! Slightly NSFW content in one part of the picture.) Yes, I will be saying NOTE a lot in this guide. Deal with it  
     
     
    Now select credit card and continue. (Yes foreign credit cards works.)
    Now just hit confirm and move over to the purchase page. (Just ... just follow the big red circles.)
    And here we are at the big screen of death. Actually, what goes where is uber simple to understand, but if all you see is gibberish, don't worry. Here is the list of what goes where. (Once again, should they ever change the layout of their site, remember which one of these corresponds with what information, and fill it out.)
     
     
     
    List of the required info in order:
     
    credit card number
     
    expire date
     
    security code
     
    Full name
     
    Email adress. (THIS MUST BE YOUR REAL EMAIL! IT IS IMPORTANT!)
     
    Confirm your email adress (AGAIN, THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT.)
     
     
     
    Now click the button on the bottom with red under it and continue.
     
     
     
    Now it takes you to a screen saying an email has been sent, and it lists your order number etc. (You will see your email on the page, and if you managed to put in your real email, you did good. If not... Then just ... ugh..)
     
     
     
     
    You will now have gotten an email with the download link and a unique password. THE PASSWORD IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! WIHTOUT IT, YOU CANNOT ACTIVATE YOUR GAME!
     
    In the email there is a URL called "guest login." Click the link, and then move down and find your game. Hit download.
     
    NOTE!
     
    Seeing as you are a guest, you have 1 week to download your game. The game files themselves are movable obviously, so once you have them, you can put them on an external hardrive, but the download link will disappear after 1 week.
     
    The password you got in your email WILL WORK EVEN AFTER 1 WEEK. It will be the password you use to activate the game. (EVERY COMPUTER MUST ACTIVATE THE GAME 1 TIME BEFORE USE.) So write this password down or save the email containing it.
     
    If we look here, we can see that the text in the circle says the game download is expired, where as the one on the top, tsui yuri, is downloadable. Click the big download button of your new game.
     
     
     
    Now, extract the game files with WinRaR or whatever.
    ( Copy your password to the clipboard or remember it. )
     
    And here we are! You have your game downloaded, and only one step remains! Putting in your password and Email once. The first time you open the program, it should look like this: (Note that the .exe file will be called something different for each game, obviously.)
     
     
    And now fill in the information. (THE TOP FIELD IS FOR YOUR EMAIL, THE BOTTOM FIELD IS FOR THE UNIQUE PASSWORD.)
     
     
    If you did everything correctly, you will now have your game working and ready. The next time you open it up, you will not need a password to access it. (Every new IP adress will though. So, if you move the files to your work computer or whatever, you will need to activate it again using the password.)
  12. Dergonu
    Time for another blog entry, and today I'll be talking about the dungeon crawler, Ikazuchi no Senshi Raidy. This is the first installment in ZyX's dungeon crawler series featuring Raidy, a very popular game series.
    For those of you who aren't familiar with dungen crawler games, they are gameplay like titles featuring a dungeon that you as the player need to navigate through. Depending on the game, there might be random enemy encounters, bosses as you climb floors, secret passages, traps, loot and more. The actual gameplay is most of the time simply using the direction buttons to move your character forwards, sideways and backwards as you progress through the dungeon, as well as mouse clicks to fight possible bosses and enemies you encounter. In Raidy 1, you play as "the lightning warrior" Raidy, who heads into a tower controlled by a demon in order to save the nearby village from his evil. The tower has several floors, every one of which contains a mini boss, and your job is to move through each floor, kill the boss and climb to the next floor until you reach the demon himself, so that you can kill him and put a stop to his plans.
    As you move through the dungeons, you will encounter random enemies, who will increase in strength for every floor. These random encounters award EXP, which will be cruicial for for your survival in the dungeon. (This game is seriously challenging, and if you are even just a tiny bit underleveled, you WILL die, which will result in a game over. Therefore, you often have to spend quite a bit of time on each floor after defeating the boss, just grinding a few levels so that you won't die instantly on the next floor. A bit more on the difficulty later on.)
    The game actually came out in 1994, though the current version available on JAST's homepage has updated craphics compared to the original release. The current art is actually very pretty, which was a big plus for me as I played it, since I was expecting something much, much worse.
     
    A random encounter in the dungeon

    That being said, the audio in the game is quite bad. The quality isn't top notch, but the worst part is the absolutely cringe voice acting by Raidy... It's actually quite comical. She is extremely emotionless when she speaks, even in crazy situations, (like her being raped by a crazy werewolf... yes, this happens, lol.) I don't know for sure, but it seems to me like the voice acting is the original from the 1994 release, as that would explain the rather lacking quality compared to the new art. Still, this is just a tiny little detail, and it didn't bother me much at all.
     
    Like I mentioned before, your goal is to defeat all the floor bosses in order to climb up to the top of the tower and kill the demon, but this is not a simple feat. Each floor introduces new traps and labyrinths which are seriously difficult to figure out without a guide. I personally played the whole game without a guide, something that took a long time considering the actual length of the game. I spent a long time grinding for exp, walking in circles through the mazes and getting stuck at certain traps, (like the freaking evil 180 turn pad, which turns your character 180 degrees without you noticing, making you walk in circles forever unless you figure out the trap, or turn around by chance.) Traps can feature many different things, like chests rigged with poison gas, invisible walls, turn pads and so on.
    As you advance through the dungeon, you will be completely blind, and you have to memorize where you came from until you manage to find the floor map, which usually lies hidden quite far into the dungeon. The map will let you see an overview of the current floor, and it's a huuuuge help when navigating, though finding the damn things can be a pain. You do have a compass, which is very helpful, as you can use it to somewhat get a grasp on where you are at all times.
     

    You will eventually discover certain rooms and points of interest, wchich will give you screens like these. You will have to click each option several times in order for figure out all the information you need, (so if you are talking to a prisoner in a jail cell, you might need to select one option up to 5-6 times in order to get the correct info out of them.) This is very important to remember, because every mini boss will be invincible until you have learned their weakness. This means, if you rush into the boss room, you have absolutely no chance of winning, and you will get a bad end, and a bad end rape scene. (If you want to 100% the game, you do have to get these, so saving before entering the boss room, just to unlock the scene is recommended, so you don't have to go back to get these again later on.) Also, on that note, there is 1 secret ending in this game, which you can only get if you 1) collect all the information on a boss, save, then try to fight them but lose, get the rape scene and then reload the save, then defeat them. (An instant defeat becuase you didn't know their weakness won't count.) I'm mentioning this because actually going through the whole game again just to do this will take hours, and it's quite a grind just for 1 new scene, just keep that in mind if you plan on playing this game. - Get info, save, fight and lose, then win, repeat for every boss.
    Now that we mentioned that, it's important to point out, rape is a core part of this game. (The mini bosses are capturing villagers and rape them, when you lose to a boss you get a rape scene, and when you defeat a boss you... rape them... yup...) So yeah, do not expect any vanilla H in this game, because you won't find any of it. Oh, and... 95% of the game is yuri. (Yay!)
     
    Earlier I talked a bit about the difficulty in this game. Traps, mazes, strong bosses and all that makes for a really crazy combo. Honestly, the difficulty in this game might be a bit too high for certain people. I personally love a challenge like this, and had a blast playing through the game, trying to figure out how to beat the next floor, and the 2-10 hour game felt like a much longer one, because of the amount of time I spent in game. The thing is, the actual scenes and VN elements are rather short, and you will be spending most of your time in the gameplay, defeating enemies and searching for loot and clues. Therefore, it is important that you find these elements in the game entertaining, or else this will be a real chore to get through.
    The combat system in the game is very simple. You can preform a normal attack, block, flee or cast a magic attack which consumes your mana. Your normal attacks deal less damage than the magical attacks, but are more consistent. Both you and your enemies can land critical hits, which will do loads more damage than normal, so it's important to keep your health up with healing potions.
    The block feature is mainly there so that you can lose on purpose if you want, (all you do in that situation is walk into a boss room, spam the block button until you die, so that you don't risk killing the boss.) The magical attack does more damage the more mana you have, and becomes rather unreliable as fights drags on, but can be cruicial when it comes to weakening bosses, as the first 2-3 hits can be quite strong. One thing I have to mention here is... save... A LOT! Save all the time. If you die to a boss, it's game over, and you have to start all over, or from a save point. If you forgot to save and went on playing for a while, getting back that progress can take ages, and it can really make you ragequit.
     

     
    I think that about covers everything that needs to be said about Raidy 1. It's a very enjoyable game, especially considering it's age and limited length. The art is really pretty, the gameplay is fun and challenging and the characters are all pretty cool, (though again, Raidy's voice actress is literal cringe.) You can buy the game and 2 of the sequels over at JAST, (here.)
  13. Dergonu
    I have been wanting to write something about this VN since the second I finished it, but never actually got aroud to it. Now with the TL announced, I figured I might as well write something. Might be a good thing to note that I absolutely adore this game, and it is probably my favorite VN of all time, so I'm a bit biased, just saying.
     
    So, first, an introduction. Kimi e okuru, sora no hana is a nakige made by Cabbit. The game is about ghosts, people who can see them, and their attempt at a life together in a special school that trains its students to handle their powers. The main character, Shuuya, has been able to see ghosts since he was a child, and he has always wondered why. When the mysterious ghost Matsuri approaches him with the offer of a school that can teach him about his powers, he just couldn't say no. As he gets to the school he meets many others with similar powers, and they all seem equally eager to learn what their powers are. But, there is a slight twist. People with these powers are not the only students in the academy. About a third of the student body is also made up by ghosts. Now, this is a big deal, because, well, they are ghosts. Dead people with psychic abilities isn't exactly your ideal classmate. Naturally this causes some disturbance in the classes, but the presence of the ghosts is an absolute condition for the school to operate, and everyone has to handle it if they are going to attend the academy. (Even the headmaster is a ghost, and boy is she an... interesting woman, lol.)

    The game is a nakige like I said, but it also has some other elements as well. The entire game isn't constantly story driven, and so people who hate "generic school settings" might be slightly annoyed at certain points in the game, even though these "plotless" moments aren't a dominating factor. Because of the way the game is structured, even normal days at school might suddenly turn into something dramatic, because of the relationship between the humans and the ghosts, as well as the ever present danger of a ghost going berserk. Still, there is definitely a decent amount of slice of life moments in this game, though I found them very enjoyable because of the rather unique take on the setting. Despite the fact that we have a "generic school setting", half of the students in the class being ghosts makes for a different experience. First of, it opens up for new types of humor, (people can't see ghosts, so if you walk alone with one, people think you are jut talking to yourself, for instane,) more drama (there is a lot of tension between everyone because of the ghosts), not to mention that the romance itself in this VN is very unique, as the ghosts can't actually touch anything solid. (I mean, they are ghosts.) So this opens up for a very fresh and interesting take on these overused elements. In addition, the game itself is 10-30 hours long, and with 5 heroine routes with at least 2 endings each as well as a common route, this means the routes aren't too long, so the "boring slice of life" moments in between the story is rather minimal in comparison to other, longer games. Still, despite all of that, you will have to suck it up and get through some slice of life if you want to play this game.
    The game has 3 human heroines and 2 ghost heroines, as well as a few other short, special routes that you can unlock upon completing certain endings. The human routes are more similar to what you usually find in general nakige/ charage, and An's route is probably a bit more similar to a moege route at times, but all three human routes still use the ghosts as a part of their main story. The ghost routes, however, are very different from the standard stuff, and on top of that, the two ghost routes are very different from each other, making them both feel quite unique. Also, I have to point out that Matsuri is the "main heroine" in this game, and so she has 3 endings instead of the standard 2, and is a lot more in focus during the common route. Some people might not like "main heroines". I personally really liked Matsuri, but personally would have liked a bit more focus on some of the other routes, like Sekka's and Hinagiku's. Still, Matsuri is a really great heroine.
     
    When I first played the game, I started with the Sekka route, and it just blew my mind. Mainly because Sekka was a character I honestly had no real expectation of at all. She just looked like a normal, cute and shy character who had nothing else to her. But once her route started, I couldn't stop reading.

    Each ghost has a reason for... well, being dead. Something ended up killing them at some point in their life, though what this is varies. (duh.) In Sekka's case, whatever it was caused her to become extremely shy around other people, and she is so insecure she can barely even speak to others. She spends most of her time on the roof of the school, staring into the sky.
    Shuuya is the only person in the school who actually ended up approaching her despite of her insecurity. He kept talking to her, which made Sekka open up a lot more, but at the same time, this created more insecurity. It's hard for Sekka to understand normal, human relationships, and she doesn't really get what friendship means in general. On top of that, a ghost's mental condition is directly linked to how well they can control their powers, which means Sekka is already in a bit of a shaky spot as it is. This route's entire structure was very unique and interesting.
    Sekka's route is probably one of the most dramatic, and in my opinion it's one of the best, though it is a bit on the shorter side, sadly. Reading both her endings in succession is strongly recommended, and starting with the bad ending is the most ideal for sure. The reason for this is that the structure of her route is a bit different from what you tend to see in most games, with the order of how things happen turned a little on its head. In addition, Sekka's bad ending is longer than her true ending, and it also contains important information that will make the true ending even more impactful.
     
    The difference between the human and the ghost heroines in the game might look slightly strange to some people. Why use both? Why not just one? On one side, you have nakige elements and drama, and on the other side you have standard charage material? Why?
    Well, this game does a very good job of keeping the two connected. It's not two completely alien entities that exist totally independent of one another. For exmaple, An's route is the cutest and most slice of life driven route in the game, but even this route deals heavily with Shuuya's powers and his attendance at the school, as well as his past and the origin of his powers.
    ...
    ... But really though, most people should just want to play An's route because of how freaking adorable she is. I mean... come on.

    Anyways, moving on. The other two human heroines, Kana and Hinagiku have more dramatic routes compared to An, but they are still quite different from the ghost routes. I found Hinagiku's route the most entertaining of the three, mainly because of her character. (Like, because she was a very interesting heroine, not just because she is so pretty! Well, she is incredibly pretty though. I mean... look.)

    (The art really is nice in this game.)
     
    I could rant on for hours and hours about the game, but I think I got the most important stuff out of the way. This is a very solid VN, with great characters, an interesting plot and some seriously tear-jerking moments. If you like nakige, you'll like this one.
    For the people who can't read Japanese, you should definitely keep your eye on the TL project. (You can show them some love by joining their discord, checking out their website or even offering to help out with the project. All the info you need, as well as the links to their website and discord etc, is here on this link.)
    That's about it, hopefully my bias didn't rub off too strongly in the post. (But hey, even if it did, it's my blog so who cares )
  14. Dergonu
    Hey everyone! So it's time for another review, this time of a yuri title that I just finished last night, Kimihane Kanojo to kanojo no koi suru Ikkagetsu. I got recommended this a little while back and decided to read it because I thought it was just a short yuri nukige. But boy was I wrong ...
     
    The story:
    The story is quite lighthearted and simple, three girls who think they saw an angel when they were younger live together in a dorm. These three girs get along very well and the story is just their daily lives unfolding before our eyes. Or, rather, it is actually being seen by someone else. The story is told in a third person narrative, being looked at by a mystery person. The third person narrative is quite interesting; its something I haven't seen much off in VNs, and it made for a fun experience, reading an untranslated novel in the third person.
    It's a novel strongly built on the slice of life element. The story is split into 4 chapters, with 4 routes, each route has its own unique twist on the four chapters, with new CG, dialouge and events.
    The routes are each coupling, Rin x Hina, Hina x Fumi, Fumi x Rin, and finally a secret route unlocked after the completion of the previous three.
    Each scene during the game tends to be quite specific and short, but in return there are many of them. So let's say they are sitting in the living room having dinner, there is a short sequence where they do that, then it suddenly switches to a different scene, let's say, they are now at school. This is actually a very comfortable way to read an untranslated novel for me, as its very easy to get the context of the conversation. Also, story wise, there is a reason for this specific short scene duration, and it is revealed during the last, hidden route.
    There is an enforced playing order, where a new route is unlocked after the current one is finished. Also, there are NO choices in the game. You get some unique dialouge choices in the form of these screens:
    However these have no effect on the routes and the story at all, and they are simply small unique scenarios.
    All in all, the story is very light and cute, the language in the novel is simple, but it still keeps you entertained the entire time. Similar to Sono Hanabira, it focuses strongly on it's character interatcion.
     
    The characters:
    The story offers very few characters, only four of which has a sprite. These four characters are the ones who make up the bulk of the game's story.
    These characters are:
     
    Hina:

    Hina is kind of the little sister in the group. She is super adorable; a small girl with a loud voice. (She tends to yell a lot.) She does a lot of stuff that just makes you go, "aww", but unlike Fumi, she is quite ... Noisy. She isn't a fragile and gentle little girl, but rather a loud and energic one.
    She spends a lot of her time yelling at Rin, and this makes her appear more like an older sister, despite her role in the little "family" being the little sister/daughter.
     
    Rin:

    Rin is my favorite character of the three. She is a slob, managing to put her glasses in the fridge like 8 times during the story. She sleeps in all the time and is always yelled at by the little energy bomb that is Hina. Basically everything Rin does will make you laugh. She is less innocent and more direct and frank, making her do hilarious stuff like roleplay sexual scenarios with Fumi's stuffed animals, get in bed with Fumi telling Hina to look away as "mama and papa" are going to be doing grown up stuff. She will make you laugh a lot, and thats what I loved about her.
    Of course, just like the other two she has sides of her which aren't so clear, that you learn more about during the routes.
     
    Fumi:

    Fumi is the mother among the three. She is very polite and formal, always takes care of the housework and steps in as a peacekeeper whenever the two others start quarreling. She is gentle and adorable, but just like Rin, she has different sides to her which are discovered during the routes.
     
    Lastly, Sachiko:

    Umm.. She is the ... Middle aged dorm manager who keeps on touching the girls... She also tries to pay them to be painted nude. ..  uhh.. Someone call the police..?
     

     
    General impressions and thoughts:
    Like I said in the introduction, Kimihane looked like your average yuri nukige to me, but wow was I wrong. It is by no means a nukige; I'd probably call it a moege, (as there are only 2 H-scenes per route and quite a lot of cute and adorable, lighthearted dialouge and scenes dominate the game.)
    The art in the game is really nice, with several CG variants for each scene and well done character details and sprites. This also makes the H-Scenes quite enjoyable, though like I said, the H-scenes were actually not what made me stick around for this one.
    Each character has a lot of developement throughout the story, and each route brings out a new side of them that we haven't seen before. This makes each route feel unique and very enjoyable. The humor in the game is quite entertaining, and the romance is well done, though its a little bit simple and moe like. Don't expect extremely prfound and deep relationships.
    Even though the story is so simple and light though, it doesn't make you feel bored or tired of what is going on. The characters keep the romantic routes interesting, but what really blew my mind was the hidden route. Once I played it, I just went... "Ohhhhh!" It did such a good job of suprising me and I think it will suprise you as well. I never saw that coming.
     
    Anyways, since the game is fairly short there isn't too much else to be said. Honestly, my conclusion is this: PLAY IT! It's short, its really cute and light but at the same time it has its moments where the story really takes you by suprise. The characters are wonderfull and entertaining and the art is really nice.
     
    I personally rated this a 9/10 on my VNDB, but keep in mind; I am yuri freak.
    I think a more objective rating would be something like a 7.5.  But this is definitely not something you should play just because it has yuri. It's quite the good little novel, and it left me seriously pleasantly suprised.
     
    That's it for today folks, thanks for reading!
  15. Dergonu
    2017 has been a pretty cool year in terms of VN releases. I'm not even close to Clephas' level of reading, so I have only scratched the surface of what was released this year, but I did still read what I think is a pretty decent chunk of VNs, and now that the year is coming to a close, I'd like to go through some those games and talk about which ones I liked the most etc. This blog post will only cover NEW releases in 2017. I might make a separate blog post about VNs that weren't released in 2017, but that I still read this year later on.
     
    I started the year with Ryuu Kishi Bloody Saga, a cool fantasty game by Akabeisoft 3. The prequel to this game was a dark nukige-ish story, which didn't really impress me. But, Ryuu Kishi went into a completely different direction, and ended up being a really entertaining read. I wrote a blog post about Ryuu Kishi around the time I finished it, so I'll link that here if anyone wants to read it.
    Summing up though, Ryuu Kishi is a good fantasty VN, with great action scenes, an interesting plot, and good romance. (With a functional harem aspect, which was interesting.) It's by no means a kamige, but it was definitely among the better games released this year in my opinion.
    After this I played a few games, but none of them were anything special. Amanatsu Adolescence had some aspects I liked, but fell flat on its face with the heroine routes, which was disappointing.
    The next game worth mentioning is Majo to Tsurugi to Sen no Tsuki. This was my first time playing one of Kai's Mahou Shoujo games, and the only reason I picked this one up was because Ban'ya had helped write it. (I love Ban'ya's stuff.)
    The game honestly blew me away. I'm not saying it's a kamige or anything, (not by a long shot,) but considering that this is meant to be a nukige, it really went beyond my expectations. The story was legitimately interesting, the characters were great and the writing was satisfying. Reading this game made me interested in checking out the rest of the works in the series, which I'll get around to reading at some point. Hopefully they are similar in structure, as I took quite the liking to the way this game's structure. You basically have a nukige with a story, where making the right choices lets you skip most of the H-scenes, and move through the true route. But, if you make the wrong choice, you are thrown down "bad routes", filled with bad endings and H-scenes. So, depending on what mood you're in, you can choose what type of game you're playing, essentially. (There are of course still a decent number of H-scenes in the true route, but the bulk of them are in the bad routes.)
    My review of this game can be found here, on Clephas' blog.
     
    Now, next on the list is Chrono Box, and well, I'm just going to come out and say it right away: This game is amazing. It's without a doubt one of my favorite VNs of all time. Actually, it's tied for 1st place with the ChuSinGura series.
    I went into the game without knowing much about the story, and I got sucked into the game right away, finishing the whole thing in about 4-5 days. (Considering it's a rather hard game to read in Japanese, that's pretty crazy fast for me.) The ratings on VNDB aren't the best, which is to be expected tbh. It's a hard game to read, and it's a denpa game where every single small detail matters. I'd imagine a chunk of VNDB votes comes from people who try reading JP games with machine translations, and well, that is not recommended for this game. In fact, there are many parts of the game that cannot be hooked, as they are either in image files in the game itself, or in voiced lines without any text. In addition, it's a game with some pretty dark content here and there, and I know some people just rate games badly because of that. (This is a story driven mystery/denpa game, and similar to SubaHibi, all the dark elements are there for a reason, driving the story forward.) I don't mean to come off as an elitist saying "EOP's opinions doesn't matter!" here, by the way. I do think the difficulty of the game, and the content in it might have caused a bit of a change in the votes from English readers, though. In comparison, the game is rated very highly on EGS, being #23 of the whole year so far, (and it also has a rather high amount of votes, in comparison to some games above it on the list, which just has a handful. Like, seriously, 2 of the games on the list only have 5-6 votes, kek.)
    Overall, this is just a fantastic read. I strongly recommend it to anyone who can read it. It truly just blew my mind. If you ARE going to read it, do yourself a favor: Do NOT look up anything about it. No CGs, no story summaries, no nothing. Just go in blind, and enjoy the ride. Seriously, you have no idea what's in store for you.
     
    Moving on from Chrono Box, we have Pure Song Garden, the first "normal" charage I played this year that I feel deserves a spot among the "better" releases I've read in 2017. This is Pulltop's newest "club-themed game", similar to Konosora and Miagete Goran, focusing on a future world where AI and VR has become an important part of our lives. It has fantastic romance, (in the true route at least; I have to admit, I skipped the other routes for the true route. It was all I wanted,) the story is surprisingly good, and the characters aren't just stereotypes, like they tend to be in similar games. Suzu and Iroha, the characters with the main focus in the true route, definitely makes the game worth it by themselves. The MC also isn't bad, though I do wish they added a bit more to his backstory. They introduced an interesting conflict with him, which just kind of resolved itself rather quickly, something that irked me a bit. But, definitely a solid game overall.
    You can read more of my opinions on the game here, on Clephas' blog.
     
    Finally we have Biman 4. This was my first Biman title, and I didn't really know what to expect of the game. And honestly, I was blown away by it. The writing was fantastic, and felt nearly poetic at times, even. The drama was well handled, and some of the scenes made me take a break from the game for a bit, as they made me feel so many different emotions. These scenes were so well done.
    At the end of the day, the game is still a nukige, and I won't call it a kamige or anything, but man, this game is so much more than first meets the eye. Almost makes me sad that it's a nukige, as there could have been even more potential there had it been a little longer, and a little more story focused.
    Either way, this is another truly good VN that I strongly recommend people read. Also, it's completely possible to read it without having read the other Biman games, just like I did.
    You can read some more details about my opinion on the game here, on Clephas' blog.
     
    Overall, this has been a great year with many solid releases. My backlog still has a good chunk of the games that came out this year, many of which might have made it on this list, if I had the time to read them. But, oh well. I'm still happy with the amount of VNs I got done this year, and look forward to seeing what 2018 has in store for us.
  16. Dergonu
    Hello hello! I have spent the whole day no lifing this game and now its time to make a review of it!  
     
    Introduction:
    Just like the last game, Nekopara vol. 2 is a rather short kinetic novel, (about 4-5 hours, depending on your reading pace. Maybe a little longer if you listen to all the dialogue.) It has very nice art, animated sprites, animated H-Scenes and ... nekos!
    Starting off after the ending in vol.1, all the catgirls in the Minaduki-family are now working at La Soleil. So far the MC, Kashou, has conquered two of the six. How long before the rest of them fall for his incredible ... Baking ... Skills?
     

     
    The story?
     
    So I went ahead and added a question mark there. Don't take this the wrong way; I am not saying the game is bad and that its completely devoid of a story, but let's face it, this game is primarily about looking at the pretty nekos naked.
    Its very strongly built on the slice of life type element, literally just showing the life of everyone at La Soleil as they do their best to keep the now very popular bakery running. It's pretty much a moege / nukige, depending a little on how you want to look at it. (I guess if you play the all ages version, its just a pure moege .. )
     
    In Vol.2 the two catgirls Azuki and Coconut are our new heroines (two of my favorites, so that made me go hell yes!)
    The story starts with Coconut being extremely clumsy like always, and therefore she ends up very dejected. All the other nekos have a job they can pull off well in the bakery, but all Coconut can do is lift heavy stuff. She breaks mugs, gets in the way and just generally doesn't do much productive work.
    Azuki on the other hand has taken the role of the leader among the nekos, and with her being the oldest of the lot, it was a rather natural role for her to fill. Coconut and Azuki constantly get in fights, something that makes the relationship between the two kind of strained.
    Eventually Coconut wants to get some special training from Kashou, so that she can do better at work and finally have her onee-chan compliment her.
    Meanwhile, Chocola and Vanilla has to go take another test in order to keep their bells. The bell test was something they both struggled with originally, especially Chocola, so it's something that could end badly. Will they manage to keep their bells, or will they be forced to go through the process to get them back all over again?
     
    The story basically continues in this pattern from here, though if I say any more, I'd basically spoil the little story the game has. Therefore, let's leave it there.
    All in all, for me the story was quite enjoyable. It's extremly light hearted, and I knew that as I started playing it, obviously. It has a few moments that is kind of touching, and others that are really funny.
    Really though, it's nekopara; its short, you wont get an incredible amount of story, but you sure as hell will be entertained by the little that is there. (Unless you don't like nekos, but if thats the case, you are a sad human being )
     
    What about Chocola and Vanilla?
     
    When I started playing, this was a question that was in the back of my mind. Will the new heroines simply replace the old ones? Well the answer is, no!
    Of course the new nekos have a bigger role in the story overall, but both Chocola and Vanilla are still present more than enough. (They are in fact, in every single H-Scene. )
    On the note of Vanilla and Chocola, their part in the story with the bells is rather small, but they are present during most of the story scenes featuring Azuki and Coconut as well, but more as background characters.

     
     
    Another thing I was wondering was; are they going to make any improvements to the game at all? I didn't really have anything specific in mind, but the main concern I had was: is this literally just going to be a copy paste of the first game, but with new heroines?
    Luckily, it wasn't. I mean, of course we are in the same setting so there is re-used backgrounds, the music is somewhat the same and the art itself hasn't been changed significantly. It's not like they have made any big changes that we can see, but just in a general sense, the game itself isn't the same as the first one.
    First of all, the new heroines both have different and unique personalities that makes the little story aroud them interesting, and it also spices up the H-Scenes so they don't feel like they are just re-used with new characters.
    Also, the story starts of like the polar oposite of the first game, with Vanilla and Chocola already being involved with the MC. We see a little part of their daily life, and how the other nekos are around them when they "get funky". (And example being Coconut walking in on Chocola and Kashou when they are making out.)
    So although the feel of the game is similar, its not a lazy copy paste kind of game. I was a little dissapointed to find out that no new elements, such as possible choices or a new fun function like when the petting menu was introdouced. These are fun little things that would make the game even more entertaining.
    An amusing thing that happened during the story was when the two remaining nekos went ahead and kind of broke the fourth wall, saying "if this pattern continues, will it be our turn next?"

     
    Conclusion:
     
    Nekopara vol. 2 is rather short and you shouldn't go into it expecting a very deep story. It's very light and full of moe. Luckily the game itself isnt a copy paste from the first game, though I wish some new elements were introdouced. Hopefully the possible next game will have something new in it, like a small choice or something else that spices the game up even more.
    In order to avoid a bunch of people getting weirded out by a subjective rating, I'm going to say this: If you liked the first game, you are definitely going to love the second one! If you didn't really care for the first one, then this might not be your thing. Of course, if you have a thing for Heterochromia heroines, then the game might be worth it just as a nukige. Coconut sure does look ... S-Smart Yes, lets go with that.
     
    I rate nekopara vol. 2 neko/10 What, were you expecting a serious number? Well, too bad. I loved it though. I need more. Please make vol.3. Now. Ok?
    Good.
    Thats it for today, thanks for reading. Now go play this thing!
  17. Dergonu
    So I know @Deep Blue made one of these a little while ago, but I really wanted to get one out myself as well. (I am also including pictures. You are too lazy man!  ) Now that the game is released, I feel it really deserves some coverage! 
    (Note that I read the beta version, and so some improvements will have been made to the final release. Also, I wrote this review in a littel bit of a subjective style, really because I want to get through my personal feelings that I experienced when I read the VN. It might make the review seem slightly biased, but I hope this doesn´t make the review seem less serious. I played the game with a completely objective state of mind, and this is just my honest opinion of the game. Anyways, on to the review:) 
     
     
    One thousand lies is a 5-10 hour OELVN made by Keinart Lobre, (@Keinart.) The VN is about a group of friends goofing around as they get closer to graduating from high-school, though there is a lot more to the novel than what initially meets the eye. 
    (Note, the novel has both a Spanish and English version. I read and proofread the English version.) 
     
    In One Thousand Lies we meet Ciaràn Endyein, a slightly delinquent-like teenager who, along with his best friend Ausse Ealdwine, pull of silly yet harmless shenanigans that always end up getting them in trouble. The two are also accompanied by the pretty and intelligent Ziva Shani, who constantly try to psychoanalyze Endyein. 
     
    At the beggining of the story, Endyein recieves a strange, mysterious email, telling him to go to a certain place without any more detailed instructions. The sender appears to have stolen a package Endyein was waiting for, so confused and angry, he decides to do what the email says. (With some persuasion from his friends.) This sends him down a fairly heavy psychological, yet heartwarming and slice of life-like journey. 
     
    Story and writing
    The story in the game starts of really light and funny. It´s a slice of life story that has refreshing and entertaining humor; it doesn´t use overused clichès that you have seen 100 times before. As you get further into the story, you will start to notice that not everything is exactly how it seems. It´s hard to talk about this without spoiling the entire story, so we are going to keep it short. The story is well written, has pretty good pacing and does a good job of hiding the real kicker until the very end. 
    The writing in the novel is, like I´ve already mentioned, really good. It is every editor´s dream, going through a novel that has essentially no mistakes, and that doesn´t repeat itself over and over, but instead offers new, refreshing words and phrases for each sentence. The language was almost a little bit too complex at times, as I felt it was unnecessary to use such big words for a normal, every-day setting. Still, the novel does use a lot of psychology terms and the likes, so it´s not like a complex language is a bad thing for it. 
    There isn´t much else to say about the story, as the novel is quite short, and giving any more information could possibly spoil it. All in all, story and writing is very well done, and deserves a good 9/10 rating. 
     

     
    Characters and art
    The characters in the novel are all diverse and interesting in their own way. You have Ausse, the slightly dumb but lovable rich kid who might or might not be the MC´s friend because of his financial situation. 
    Ziva, the beautiful and determined female friend who constantly gets on the MC´s nerves when she tries to diagnose him with different psychological disorders.
    Claire, the cute and shy girl who only opens up when in the presence of Endyein. 
    Luce, the playful and energic joker who always has a funny remark that will put the MC in his place. 
    And finally Diniz The Sloth. (I think that title should be sufficent in describing him.) 
     
    Each character has nice and well drawn sprites with several facial expressions that feels natural. 
    The CG in the game is very pretty, though certain facial features gets a little less "natural" in the CGs compared to the character sprites, especially Luce´s. Regardless of this though, the CG is very nice and well made. 
    The backgrounds are kind of like a painted sketch, which is a unique but interesting style that I personally found quite enjoyable. 
     
    The only complaint I would have about the characters is that Diniz seems to have very little screen time compared to the others, and therefore he has little time to become a part of the main cast. 
    Characters, 9/10, 
    Art 7.5/10
     
    Music and atmosphere
    The music in the novel is pretty good overall and seeing as the game is not voiced, this is a good thing. There are several comfortable soundtracks that helps bring out the emotion reflected in the scene, especially during the more enigmatic and mysterious situations the novel has to offer. 
    The music did not take me by storm, but it still did its job very well in filling the "silence" when playing the unvoiced game. 
    Not much more to say about it. Music gets a 6.5/10 score from me. 
    The atmosphere in the game is quite hard to put into words. During the reading experience, it is obvious that there is something there that is more than just a few teenagers messing around. There is some kind of heavy undertone in the writing that clearly tries to tell you something more, but its written in such a way that what exactly that is, doesnt become apperant until the very end. I think that the way this was done is really quite impressive. Each character has a part to him or her that helps hint to this, and each scene does put out tiny clues, though in the end, figuring out what the cause of such an atmosphere is before the credits roll is not easy. 
    This part of the game gets a clear 10/10 rating from me. It was quite the ride. 
     
    Conclusion:
    In conclusion, OTL is an entertaining and innovative OELVN that doesnt try to do all those things we have already seen in Japanese VNs, but instead it uses original humor, exceptional writing and an interesting and thrilling psychological aspect to make the entire reading experience a blast. 
    I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading this, and simply voulenteered to proofread / test the game because of Deep Blue´s interest in it. Needless to say, I was not dissapointed. 
    Final rating: 9/10. 
    Here is a link to the thread for the game here on Fuwanovel:

     
  18. Dergonu
    I finished this game the other day, and decided to write up a short blog post on it.
    Ryuukishi Bloody † Saga is the "sequel" to Akabei Soft3's Ryakudatsusha no Inen, (though the only relevant connection is the main character, and it pretty much works as a standalone game tbh.) The game completely breaks away from the dark nukige-like feel the first game had, and shifts the genre completely into something rather light hearted. (Though it has some rather gore filled fight scenes here and there.) The art even changes completely, making it feel like a totally different game.
    I made a post about the prequel a bit back, and the things I felt that game did wrong was handled very well in the sequel, making it blow my expectations away. For those interested in this game who don't like overly dark themed stories and therefore want to stay clear of the prequel, you should be fine playing the sequel only as long as you read a general summary of the first game. (There is a couple of smaller refrences to the first game in the sequel, though nothing major.)
    For those interested, I wrote up a summary of the first game here. It doesn't cover absolutely everything, but it gives you the info you need to read the second game.
    Bloody Saga starts off with Roy walking through the forest without a care in the world, headed for a city called Veludylun. However, on his way there he notices dark smoke rising from within the city walls, and he is stopped by a group of knights protecting the entrance. The city is in a state of emergency, as a massive dragon is attacking. This is apperantly not the first time this has happened, and as mortal weapons cannot harm the dragon because of its tough scales, the best the knights within the city can do is distract the dragon long enough until it leaves.

    Seeing the people of the city in dire need of help, Roy volunteers to help out with taking care of the wounded, as well as rebuilding the parts of the city destroyed by the ruthless dragon's attack. Keeping his dark past locked away deep within his mind, Roy starts a new life in Veludylun. He befriends four female knights, (who were originally selected by the king as "guards" to keep an eye on the outsider,) and together with them he spends his days helping out rebuild the city, uncertain when the dragon will attack next. 

    The story of the game is nice, although it takes a bit of time for it to pick up. The slice of life moments are more than welcome though, as they don't feel boring at all. (At least not to me.) The heroines are great, and Roy is a fantastic main character. The villains are also well made, and the fight scenes are for sure one of the best aspects of the game.
    I haven't read too many serious harem stories so I don't have many games to compare it to, but this one pulls it off very well. All the heroines gets enough screen time, they all have their own reasons for liking the MC and the harem doesn't feel forced. (My only complaint is the high amount of H-scenes... they really didn't need that many. 2-3 for each heroine would be fine, but instead there is like, 6 per heroine which is just a bit too much.)
     
    Bloody Saga is an entertaining fantasy VN with good writing, epic action scenes and a decent amount of slice of life moments with the heroines. There is a good amount of focus on the romance between the MC and the knights, but enough weight is still put on the core story so that it doesn't become your standard charage love story. The setting and time period in which the story takes place is also a nice break from your standard VNs, and the voiced protagonist + the stunning art just makes the experience more enjoyable. Although the game has its darker moments, they fit into the story very well, and aren't sexualized pointlessly like in the first game. Overall this VN is a very enjoyable read, and I strongly recommend checking it out.
  19. Dergonu
    Like I said in my previous blog post, I have been wanting to keep my blog more active for a while, and this time I'll be talking about yatagarasu's yurige, Seisai no Resonance.
    Before we get into it, I have to admit, I skipped a few routes in this one in order to get the true ending. (Nagi's true end.) It's not that the other girls in the game are bad, but more that Nagi was such an interesting character, her normal ending was not enough to satisfy me, so I HAD to skip to the true ending. (For a very annoying reason, you HAVE to complete at least another route, (possibly all of them?) after Nagi's before you can get Nagi's true ending, as Nagi's true end serves as the whole game's true route.) I ended up grabbing a 100% save file, so I could jump into her true route. Because of that, this post will primarily be talking about the common route, Nagi's route and the true ending.
     
    To quickly sum up the setting and start of the story. Kanae, our main character, travels to Otofuse Island to look for her mother, who vanished seven years ago. Otofuse is a small island closed off from the main land, where a strange ritual takes place every year. The reason for this ritual is, long ago, a big fireball fell down on the island, and a pair of shrine maidens were the ones who calmed down and sealed away the flames. Ever since that that, a yearly ritual is held, where two shrine maidens are picked to preform a similar sealing ritual like back then. The shrine maidens on the island now wield strange "gems" that grants them special powers. (More on this later.)
    Kanae takes a ferry to the island, but before she reaches Otofuse, a strange girl from a "shady" organization running the island, the shourai-kai, attacks her and she falls into the sea. Washed up ashore, Kanae is rescued by the beautiful and mysterious Mirai, who tells Kanae she has to become a shrine maiden in order to see her mother again. After a bit of a struggle, Kanae enrolls at Sakihana all-girls school, and aims to become a shrine maiden in order to see her mother.
     
    Gameplay
    This game has a rather interesting battle system, which is used for boss battles, training matches and so on in the game. (So, often when Kanae gets in a fight, you end up battling.) I personally found the gameplay very fun, but totally out of place. Because of how rarely you actually end up fighting, and how little the result of the battle matters, it almost just served as an obstacle between the story segments, which I did not enjoy. Like I said at first, the gameplay itself was actually pretty fun and well made, but it just... felt totally uncesessary. (At the end, I honestly just found myself annoyed at the fact that these battles were interrupting the story.)
    The combat is quite similar to fighting games like the Naruto PS3 games etc. You can move in a 360 angle, use different powers to fight your opponent, drain your "spirit(?)" as you preform special attacks and so on.
    Overall, although the gameplay started off as fun and was well made, I really didn't feel like it had a place in the game at all.

    Story
    As Kanae tries to become a powerful shrine maiden, so that she can be selected for the yearly ritual and see her mother, you learn more and more about what is actually going on in Otofuse.
    Why is the shourai-kai trying to kill Kanae? Why must Kanae become a shrine maiden in order to see her mother, and what happened to her mother seven years ago? What are the strange beings living in the forest outside the school grounds?
    I found the story very good, which was really cool for a yuri title, which often focuses primarily on the romance, not the story segments.
    Towards the end, I was glued to the screen, wondering what would happen next, and the way the game was paced was quite nice in my opinion. Some people have complained about the writing of the story, but I found it absolutely fine. It was entertaining from start to finish. Now, moving on from the common route, I will only be able to talk about the Nagi route and the true ending, but honestly, you should play this game just for that. (Short version, it was great.)
     
    Nagi and Kanae

    This is without a doubt one of my favorite yuri romances, ever. Kanae is goofy and funny, sociable and a little bit overly friendly with most people she meets. Nagi on the other hand, is a retracted, cold and cunning girl. (She is very intelligent when it comes to most things, but she isn't very good at social situations, unlike Kanae, and she is a bit of a tsundere under her closed off shell. Strange, but great mix.) At first, she uses Kanae for her own benefit, which is searching for an answer to a question she has had for a while. (Basically, what is actually going on? Nagi doesn't believe that the ritual and the shourai-kai is what it seems to be, and wants to dig deeper in order to find the truth.) Kanae wants to find her mother, and the two start working together. From there on out, one of the greatest yuri romances I have read unfolds. (And plot too, but pffft, who cares about that. )
    The two of them are literal opposites, Kanae with her warmth and her flames, and Nagi with her cold attitude and her ice. (Going back to the powers I mentioned earlier, the true image of their soul is reflected in the shrine maiden's powers, which is summoned from a special stone they all have. (Kanae recieved hers as a gift from her mother years ago.)
    So, for the closed off Nagi, we have ice.

    And for the warm and loving Kanae, it's fire.

     
    As Kanae learns more about Nagi, she decides that she wants to be the one to "melt Nagi's ice," which is honestly one of my favorite quotes ever, and the two of them just fit so perfectly together in the game, as they are literal opposites. The pacing in Nagi's route is absolutely perfect, and the romance is slowly but surely introduced, so not rushed at all. There is also a fairly small amount of H-scenes, 2 for Nagi if I remember correctly, both of which happen at just the right time, which made the relationship between the two seem all the more real to me. (It's not like Koiken Otome, where you are showered in H-scenes fairly early on.)
    The fact that Nagi is the true heroine in the game is so, so right. She is a really great character, and her paired up with Kanae makes for a fantastic couple. One thing that did dissapoint me a little with the game was Nagi's normal ending, which in all honesty, is a "bad" ending, not a "normal"/"good" one. (It's very bittersweet.) The fact that you HAVE to play through the rest in order to unlock the true ending makes the time between the real Nagi ending and the "bad" one too great, and if you are going to play the game, I honestly recommend getting a 100% save file, so you can do the true ending in all it's glory right after Nagi's normal end.
     
    The rest of the cast and a conclusion
    The rest of the cast in Seisai no Resonance is great, with a few rather standard template characters like Yuu and Mako, but even they are quite interesting, and although I didn't play their routes, I very much enjoyed what I saw of them in the common route and Nagi's route+ the true end. My favorite character besides Nagi and Kanae has to be Yayako, Nagi's only friend before Kanae. She is such a hilarious character, and I will definitely be playing her route at some point. (And yes, that is a cat on her head.)

     
    Overall, Seisai no Resonance is a really great yurige with an interesting plot, well written romance and an interesting cast. The gameplay, although well made, serves more as a distraction from the story, and could in all honesty have been removed. But, despite that, I really enjoyed the game, and would strongly recommend it to all yuri fans.
    (The game's opening, for those interested)
  20. Dergonu
    Hey, it has been a while since I wrote a blog entry. I did make one not too long ago, when the Maggot Baits TL got announced, but thanks to the forum rollback, that got purged. (Thanks a lot Nosebleed. Yeah, we know it was you!!!)
    Anyways, in this blog entry I'll be talking about the guro game that got released by Bug System about 3 weeks ago, Shi ni Iku Kimi, Yakata ni Mebuku Zouo. I picked this up after @Kawasumi told me about it and asked if I wanted to read it with him, (thanks for that by the way, love you <3), and I was completely hooked after just a few minutes in the game. Now, I know guro isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I just really wanted to write something about this game, so here we are.
    The game has a very simple but effective plot and story, though it was a lot longer then I was expecting. (The 2-10 hour marking on VNDB is right on the edge; the game is a hell of a lot closer to 10 than 2. Depending on your reading speed, it could definitely feel like a medium game.)
    At first glance, I thought this was a mere guro nukige, but that was not the case at all.
    A few small details before we start: The game is NOT translated, at least not at the moment. The difficulty of the game is honestly not very high. I'd say beginners can give this a go without running into many issues. You'll find some words you aren't familiar with unless you read a lot of guro, but it's not very hard to understand it if you use a text hooker and parser. Honestly, if you really want to try out the game, you might actually be fine with a machine translation. Test it out and see for yourself. Main point is, the game isn't very difficult to read.
     
    Let's get into the story:
    It happened without any warning.

    In a world that was peaceful, superior beings suddenly appeared.
    They one-sidedly massacred humans, and the world was swallowed by a whirlpool of chaos.

    While our heroine Mia was shopping with her family, she also fell victim.
    With her father, mother, and older sister dead, she desperately tried to escape, but before she could a different superior man appeared before her.
    Falling into desperation and prepared to die, Mia took up a knife and stabbed the man.

    The next second, she lost consciousness.
    Not knowing what had happened to her, she felt a great pain on her stomach.

    "You hurt my body, now I can't allow you to die easily. Your sin... deserves ten thousand deaths..."
     
    Pulled from the VNDB description. Basically, Mia stabs a "superior-man" (that is literally what they are called in the game,) and he swears she will die ten thousand times as punishment for her grave sin.
    Some more information on these "superior beings", they look like humans, but are seemingly immortal, can use magic, feed on humans and the lot of them are just a gang of messed up bastards.
    Mia wakes up in a mansion, and soon finds out that this mansion has been taken over by the superior-man she stabbed. He explains the "rules of the mansion" to her in a completely calm and collected tone of voice. (Then crushes her arm to bits after the explenation. What a nice guy!)
    To sum it up, Mia can do whatever she wants inside the mansion and no one will try to stop her, (she can even try to escape if she wants, but it will be futile, as a barrier has been put up around the house, and the only way to turn off the barrier is to kill the man.) Mia's room is "magic", and it will heal any injury, no matter how serious it is. Basically, even if Mia is dead, as long as a part of her corpse is brought up into her room, it will heal over time and bring her back. The reason this room exists is simple: the man will do horrible things to Mia whenever he feels like it, torturing and killing her, and the only way to stop the loop of her being murdered then resurrected is to kill the man with her own hands. Now the game begins; Mia has to look for a way to kill the Superior-Man in order to stop the loop. Also, one small detail that is important to add in is that whenever Mia dies, her memories get all messed up. (The ressurection magic isn't perfect.) This means that you as a reader will be confused as hell a LOT of the game, because you see things from Mia's point of view, and many times she will wake up having forgotten lots of things while the game kept on going, which means you won't get what the fuck is going on at first. (This is a good thing though, as the confusion adds to the suspense in the game when Mia walks around trying to figure out what is going on and how she can save herself and the others trapped in the mansion. Of course, all the confusion is cleared up in the end, so if you stick with it, you'll get all the answers you want.) Sadly, it did also make the game repeat itself a lot, which wasn't a deal-breaker, but it did get a bit boring after a while. "Mia wakes up, wonders where she is, puts on clothes, walks out into the hallway, goes down to the dining hall." Rinse and repeat.
     
    The art, music, CGs and backgrounds used in the game are all freaking stellar. It's very high quality stuff. The music is great, and adds to the feeling you have of being trapped in a mansion with a psycopath walking around. It's such a simple horror setup, but it's pulled off so well in the game. The art is quite hilarious actually, because it has a strong moe feel to it. (But, this game is not a moege, obviously )
    Here is a CG from the game, so you can see the amazing moe art in all its glory:

    And to get a taste of the dark elements, and the great music in the game, here is the game's opening. (The censored youtube version.)
     
    Anyways, like I mentioned in passing earlier, there will be other people in the mansion as well. These people are humans the Superior-Man caprutres for food, and some of them he chooses to use for toys, kind of like Mia. During the game, you get several choices that will let you choose Mia's and the other girls' fate in the mansion. Make a wrong turn, and ... well, you'll figure that out on your own if you choose to play the game
    Some of the other characters will try to help Mia plot out a plan to kill the Superior-Man, and you will be able to decide how you proceed with the plan and so on. Some of the choices will "reward" you with unique CGs and scenes that you cannot get otherwise, making for some decent replay value. The game also has a large amount of endings, (I believe it has around 7 or 8,) so you can keep getting different outcomes depending on your choices.
     
    All in all, the game is freaking awesome for those who likes dark horror games. Of course, the game focuses heavily on H-content, and several of the scenes contain some fairly "spicy" fetishes, so it's not a game everyone will enjoy, but like I said before, this is not a pure nukige. There is a clear story and the game has a purpose. Everything that happens in the game adds to the story in some way, and as you continue to progress through it, you'll be dying to figure out what happens next.
     
    That's about it, (this might have turned out a bit messy, sorry for that. Just really wanted to write something about this game real quick.) I'll be trying to get out more blog posts in the future, as I have been way too inactive with my blog after I finished The Last GM Standing.
    Anyways, thanks for reading! Go play the game!
  21. Dergonu
    Shirogane no Soleil -Successor of Wyrd- <<Unmei no Keishousha>>
    ( "The soliel of silvery-white" - Successor of Wyrd << The Fated successor >> )
     
    This is the first game in Skyfish's epic norse mythology series. I had never even heard of this game before Clephas made a blog post about it a little earlier this year, and that might be the case for many. Having finally played the game myself, I have to ask... how is this possible? Why is such a great game not more well known? This VN truly deserves more exposure than it currently has.
    Introduction:
    Shirogane starts off with our main character, Ryuuhei, and his sister Tamako on their way to a set of ancient ruins in Iceland. Ryuuhei is not an archaeologist like his sister, but was dragged along by her on the pretense of being her "bodyguard." Ironically, that is exactly what he ends up being. Ryuuhei's group gets pulled into an encounter with a strange creature called "Berserk", a monster made up by the broken soul of an ancient warrior, which fell in battle ages ago. Powerless against this incredibly dangerous foe, Ryuuhei prays for help, asking for power-- the power to protect the people he loves. His call is answered by a slumbering Valkyrie, Sol, who makes a contract with Ryuuhei. She will fight for him, in exhange for his life force. Every time she uses her powers, she drains some of Ryuuhei's life force out of his body, shortening his life. They fight off the Berserk together, but this is merely the beginning of their tale. This seemingly random encounter might not have been as random as they thought. One might even call it... fate.

    Story
    The story in Shirogane is fantastic. It's told in two parts, "Valkyrie in love", and "Successor of Wyrd." Some of the story takes place in the present, while certain other parts takes place in the past. Shirogane contains tons of refrences to norse mythology, though the descriptions of characters and events from norse mythology in the VN are not necessarily identical to the "real thing". Therefore, while familiarity with norse mythology helps with appreciating certain aspects of the game's story, it is not at all needed. What matters in terms of refrences are all explained well enough in game, and seeing as they usually put a unique spin on things, it is not at all needed to know everything there is to know about norse mythology before reading this. (That being said, knowing some of the general concepts about who is who, and what is what will certainly make it an even more enjoyable read.)

     
    Although Shirogane is a very serious story, with tragic themes riddled all over it, just like normal stories from norse mythology, the game contains a good number of humoristic slice of life moments as well. That being said, all of these moments fits very well into the flow of the story. We are seeing things from Ryuuhei's point of view, as he deals with the fact that his own life span is constantly being drained because of his contract with his Valkyrie. As a result, you feel a little more attatched to these everyday moments, since they are seen through the eyes of someone who only has so much time left to enjoy them. In addition, the comedy is pure gold most of the time. The slice of life moments very rarely feels out of place, and never gets in the way of the story. The humor in the game had me literally laughing out loud so many times, I lost count.

    Characters:
    One of the biggest strengths of this game is without a doubt the characters. Each character feels unique and is well fleshed out. They all add something to the story in their own ways, and it's hard not to grow attatched to them, be it heroes, anti-heroes or straight up villains at times. The interactions between the characters truly pulls out all sorts of emotions from the reader, making the story feel like one hell of a roller coaster ride. (In a good way. Prepare your tickets to the feel train, folks.) While the "good guys" are all very well done, my favorite characters were honestly the villains / anti-heroes that are introduced throughout the game.
    On top of making fantastic "villains", the "duos" in the game are brilliant. Essentially every single character is paired up with another in some way, and they all complement each other greatly. These "duos" were without a doubt one of the best parts about the game in my opinion. Be it heartbreaking moments or hilarious ones; nearly all the most impactful moments in the story stems from one of these duos' interactions.


    Art, Music and Writing:
    As shown in the screenshots above, the art is nicely detailed. Considering this game was released in 2007, the art is very impressive. The amount of special effects, cut-scenes and CGs is no joke either. Sadly, things aren't as good in the music department. The music is by no means bad, but it does feel a little bland at times. Certain tracks do work very well with the tone of the story, and are straight up beautiful to listen to, but others feel repetitive and aren't that impactful. So, my complaint with the music would be the inconsistent quality of the tracks. That being said, this is hardly a big issue, as the writing, art and story makes slightly repetitive music matter very little in the end.
    Overall, I have very few complaints about this game. It was a fantastic read from beginning to end, and I strongly recommend reading it. I don't use the term kamige a lot, but this definitely qualifies in my personal opinion.
    You can buy all the Soleil games on DMM. (NSFW LINK!!!)
  22. Dergonu
    Before I begin, I just wanted to say that I've gotten some feedback lately that my "reviews" have been fairly ... Laid back and not too serious. This is completely true, and I've written this with that feedback in mind. This is a much more objective, serious review of a game that I've wanted to review for a while. Hope you enjoy reading it, and please keep giving me feedback that can help me improve, I do appriciate it.
     
    Shuffle! Review,
    By Dergonu, fuwanovel
     
    Shuffle is a romance / fantasy visual novel originally released by Navel in 2003/2004. The game was later licensed and translated by Mangagamer, along with its two sequels Tick! Tack! and Really? Really! (You can buy the games here: (nsfw content on the game's page.)
    In the game you play as Tsuchimi Rin, a fairly normal high school student. When Rin was younger he met two beautiful young girls by chance, and spent the day playing with them. It turns out though, that these fate encounters would later change Rin's life forever.

    Shuffle offers 5 romantic routes as well as a common route, the story featuring elements of romance, drama, fantasy and comedy. (Note that a newer version of the game called Essence+ offers a whole roster of new characters and heroine routes not found in the original release, but this version is un-translated, and is not the version covered in this review.)
    The main story takes place in a fantasy universe where two portals have opened in the human world. These portals connects our world to the world of the Gods and the Devils. Contrary to popular belief, Devils and Gods are not omnipotent almighty beings which hate one another, but instead they are fairly similar to us, and the two races live alongside each other in peace. The Devils and Gods do have magical powers, and certain features does make them look slightly different, the primary attribute being their long ears. In the game, we follow Tsuchimi Rin in his everyday life. It has been 10 years since the portals opened, and Gods, Devils and humans live alongside each other peacefully.
     
    The overall look of the game is very nice for such an old novel. The art is pretty to look at, with nice sprites and colorful, well drawn backgrounds.  The menu is detailed and easy to navigate, offering a great variety of settings to improve your experience. There is a date display in game, and choices will affect which heroine's route you enter. The choices are very plain and easy to understand, often literally containing the name of the characters to make it easy to choose the heroine route. In addition, the game has no bad endings, so playing it blindly with no walkthrough is risk free.
    Once you enter a heroine route, a sprite of the heroine will be displayed during scene changes, so you know when you have entered a route. All these things taken into consideration, Shuffle is a very laid back and casual visual novel experience, but that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing.

     
    The music in shuffle goes hand in hand with the other elements we have discussed so far. It's very light and very simple. Each one of the normal tracks played throughout the primary part of the common route and the start of the heroine routes are simple, light and cute. They offer simple instrumental music with slight variation that glide smoothly into the background.
    The tracks unlocked later on during the final dramatic parts of the routes, feel like they are on a different level from the earlier ones. They do a better job of making the player feel engaged in the game, as they feature more detailed instrumental music which fits the setting very well.
    The music tracks in the game are all enjoyable of course, and fit nicely with the feel of the game, but if more effort was put into making all the tracks like the last few ones, then it would allow for even greater immersion in the game, something that could possibly make the game better than it already is.  
    Still, every track is very comfortable to listen to and none of them are disruptive in any way.
     

     
    Among the five heroine's routes, each story offers a fairly similar structure. It starts of very light, introducing one small piece of information casually that will later turn into a dramatic twist to the route. This small catalyst is easy enough to spot early on, and figuring out vaguely what is going to happen is fairly easy. That being said, the game still does a decent job at hiding exactly what it is that is going on. The primary part of the heroine's route will be about Rin and the girl falling in love, and developing their relationship. The game offers 2 H-Scenes for each character, with CG variations based off your choice in the route, and an epilogue which takes place after the events of the main route. As the story progresses, the catalyst which was introduced earlier will start to become more present in the story, and a big climax towards the end filled with drama will occur. This can remind you of a normal nakige build up, but the last dramatic part is so short and gets overpowered by the lightheartedness of the previous part of the game so strongly, that it can't be called a nakige at all.   
     

     
    The game re-uses a fair share of the same situations and conversations during the early part of the heroine routes. These only have certain new lines of dialogue, making the scene itself the same. This comes off as lazy, and gets old after the second route. At the very least, short new events should have occurred during these parts to make these scenes slightly more entertaining. This is luckily only the case for the beginning of the route, and the later parts are all completely unique to each heroine.
    Sia's route is supposed to have two variations, but similar to the previous problem mentioned above, they simply re-use the scenes with tiny changes in the dialogue. The final experience is the same, and so it feels almost pointless to have these two variants, as they simply don't do anything majorly different from one another. It is not a good / bad end type of deal, but instead two sides of the same ending, with all the scenes identical, except for certain variations in dialogue and the character's behavior. This is a little bit of a shame, as Sia's route is very good. Had the two sides of the route been pulled off in a better way, this route would have been even better.
     

    Primula, Asa and Sia's routes are the only ones that has "believable drama".  The other two routes doesn't make you feel like what is happening is really a big deal at all. It is trivial drama that doesn't have any real impact compared to what happens in the routes mentioned above. This is not to say that the routes are bad because of this, but it does make the game feel a little inconsistent, as if the two routes which feel less impactful are played after the other three, then you won't really be that pleased with the end result. Actually, one of these routes has to be played before Primula's route is unlocked, so only one of the routes actually have that problem.
    The endings in the routes also feel a little bit rushed. Once the drama is introduced, the player has almost no time to let it sink in and feel the effects of it, before it is resolved. This makes the novel lose some potential, as it doesn't feel like there is any "risk" to it at all. It's almost as if the game is saying that something bad could happen, but then it instantly corrects itself, saying don't worry, we wouldn't actually do this!
    Still, with those factors in mind, the story in the game is still enjoyable. The actual core of the heroine routes does a good job of making the player care for the heroine and about what happens to her, and seeing as the game instantaneously lets you know that it is a very laid back, plain and casual experience, the slightly rushed endings and not overly dramatic parts are to be expected.  
     

     
    To sum up, Shuffle! is a very light and simple, yet effective visual novel. It does a good job of making the player care for its characters, as long as the player is willing to accept the game's light hearted and simple atmosphere.
    The music and art in the game is well made, especially the art and backgrounds. Considering the age of the game, it is in fact quite pleasantly surprising to see such nice artwork in the game. The music could have had even more effort put into it though, as there is a clear difference in quality between a few of the tracks.
    The routes are a little inconsistent, and offer parts which are essentially just copy pasted with slightly altered dialogue. This alongside the predictability of certain events, the game loses a bit of its potential.
     
    + Nice art, music and well made menu makes for an enjoyable experience.
    + The story is enjoyable overall, and does a good job of making the reader care for the heroines
     
    - The drama in the later parts of the game ends far too fast, and are essentially pointless
    - The game loses potential with the lack of variation in its re-used scenes, especially in Sia's route
     
    Rating: These things taken into account, shuffle! gets a 7.8/10 rating
     
     
  23. Dergonu
    Hello hello! It's time to do something a little different and so I thought I would make kind of a review / overview of the Strike Witches manga, specifically my favorite in the series: One winged witches.
     
    So One winged witches is just one of the several arcs which you can find in the strike witches manga, but what is so nice about the Strike Witches manga is that they don't rely heavily on each other, meaning you can read it in any order you want. (Though basic knowledge of the characters in the series will be fairly important.
     
    Introduction:
    What is Strike Witches?
    Strike witches is a fairly popular shoujo ai anime and manga that features many pretty young witches as they fight against the alien race "the neuroi". The series is set in an alternate timeline where world war II is not fought against ourselves, but against a common enemy; the aliens, neuroi that has invaded earth. It's actually quite interesting and I could go on about the hidden meanings behind many of the characters, events etc. and how they link to WW2 and human nature for days, but I'll skip that and save it for a different time. Today is all about One winged witches!
    If you have absolutely no knowledge about Strike Witches at all, this is pretty much spoiler free, but it might be a little bit hard to understand if you have not watched any of the anime / read any of the manga.
     
    The One winged witches!
    The one winged witches starts us off with the very well known, and yet nearly never used character, Wilma Bishop. Interesting trivia for those who didn't know, Wilma was actually the first witch ever drawn. She is the older sister of Lynette Bishop, one of the elites in the 501st joint fighter wing, the main cast of Strike Witches.

    The one winged witches are witches who doesn't have the same amazing abilities found in the main branches of the witch forces like the strike witches(501st), storm witches(31st), brave witches(502nd) etc. Some of them are wounded and cannot keep up with the elites, some are actually very skilled but are way to egotistic and cannot function in a big, joint fighting force and some are too old. (For those of you who don't know, when you reach a certain age in Strike Witches, your witch powers starts to dvindle and falter. This is different for most witches, but after the age of 20 it usually starts to set in.)
    Wilma has joined the silly little group for reasons currently unkown and she joins the completely un-organized witches in their fight against the neuroi.
    The One winged witches' job is very simple: They are located at a base fairly close to the 501st and so the one winged witches only have to deal with the stray neuroi that is not destroyed by the elites.
     
    The story
    After Wilma joins the group she is met with many different impressions. Some of the members hate her and some quickly take a liking to her. The story itself is very simple and slice of life like, even more so than previous Strike Witches titles. There is of course still a fair share of drama in between, in fights and among the members, but the general feel of the story is slice of life through and through.
    This is one of the Strike Witches arcs that honestly makes me cry every time. Now, I am a sissy; this is an established fact. Anyways, the story is quite simply Wilma trying to make the one winged witches come together and fight as a team. She is one of the most experienced witches and she is very charismatic and full of energy, which makes her a good peacekeeper in the group. (Taking over the role of the actual commanding officer in a way.)
     
    The characters:
    Amelie Planchard - A fairly timid witch who absolutely adores Perrine from the 501st joint fighter wing. Wilma wants to help her improve so that she can once again fly next to Perrine.
    Francie Gerard - A fairly shy witch. She doesn't believe in her own abilities, something that Wilma wants to do something about during the story. She is a big fan of Charlotte from the 501st, and because of this there is some rivarly between her and Amelie. (As in, my crush is better than yours!!!)
    Misa Kadomaru - She is the captain of the one winged witches. As you might have guessed by now, Wilma will try help her in making the members of the team collaborate and function better together.
    Laura Toth - An elite from the 501st join fighter wing, who was thrown out due to her inability to function well with others in a team. She is very confident in her own abilities, but Wilma wants to try to teach her the beauty of friendship and cooperation.
    Wilma Bishop - Basically the protagonist of the books. She is the new recruit but quickly becomes the most important member in the group.
     
    Conclusion: Simple but effective
    So this has been fairly short, but seeing as this series is simply 2 manga volumes its hard to go into very detailed information without spoiling literally everything about it.
    One winged witches is a beautiful story about the so called "detatchement group" coming together and going through a lot in order to strengthen their bonds and prove that even though they are considered "the broken witches" they still work just as hard as everyone else. The characters are all interesting and taking into consideration that its only 2 manga volumes, they have a lot of character developement and backstory which is interesting and touching. Each one of them has an idol they want to live up to and a dream they want to achieve. Wilma is by far my favorite character in the entire Strike Witches universe, and that was honestly brought on soley by this short little series.
    Overall one winged witches is a wonderful little story that will leave you craving for more, (and there is a lot more, with 2 anime seasons, 1 movie, another season coming soon and plenty of other works like more manga etc.) What makes this story so good is the interaction between the little group and the way you get to watch them grow together. The ending is satisfying and touching and ... And ... BEWBZ!!!
    Sorry. Had to throw that in there. The ecchi is indeed strong with this one at times. If you want panty shots and bare breasts when the occation calls for it then you have come to the right place.
     
    So that is it for now guys, thanks for reading!
     
  24. Dergonu
    The last GM standing Q&A:

    Link to the thread:

    Would you rather read the chapter in a PDF document? Click here!
     
    Chapter 1:
    20/03-2016, Location: Fuwanovel headquarters

    Nayleen and Tay were relaxing in their seats, exhausted after a long day of work.

    The past few weeks had taken a toll on them, but they were staying strong, keeping Fuwanovel safe from DDOS attacks and global mods breaking stuff.

    As they fall asleep, gathering their strength for another day of defending the forum, a shadow glides into the room. The shadow moves quickly, slithering across the floor, sneaking up behind Nayleen's chair.

    The shadow splits in two as it reaches its target. One part wraps itself around Nayleen, the other moves over to Tay and wraps itself around him.

    ...

    The next day.

    Nayleen looks over at Tay with a mischievous smile on his face.

    "The global mods have gotten too soft lately. I think it's time we taught them a lesson."

    Tay turns his head, meeting Nayleen's gaze.

    "What exactly did you have in mind?"

    Nayleen looks down at the chess board in front of him. This was no ordinary chess board. Each piece on the board represents certain members of the Fuwanovel forum. In addition, there was three sets of pieces, meaning there was a total of three kings.

    Picking up two of the kings with the tip of his fingers, Nayleen breaks them in half.

    "Three global mods, only one can remain in their position."

    Tay nods, letting out a subtle, evil laugh.

    "Who will come out alive?"

    Nayleen joins in.

    "Who will come out as the winner?"

    He turned his gaze towards the broken chess pieces that had fallen to the floor.

    "Now then... How will this end?"

    Their laughter continued into the night, as the two made preparations for the fight that was to come.

    ..........

    Chapter 1

    The three armies


     
    It was a cold day. A dark sky filled with clouds that never seemed to disappear was hanging over the battlefield. It was quiet; so quiet that one could hear the heartbeats of the people around you. The battlefield was a huge piece of land that went on for miles and miles. With terrain ranging from harsh deserts to big forests and steep waterfalls, it was truly an overwhelming place. Standing in a line in front of their commander, Kaguya's forces were prepared for battle. It had been four hours since the battle had started, and yet no one had reached Kaguya's base yet.

    He thought it was a good idea to remain in his base and wait for someone to attack, instead of wasting his fighter's energy by charging through the huge landmass. It was possible that the other moderators were thinking the same, and if that was the case, the day would end without a drop of blood being spilled. Thinking back on the previous day, Kaguya rubbed his temples in anger and exhaustion.

    The three global moderators had suddenly been summoned by the admins. They had no idea what was going on, and they did not have the time to ask. The second they were teleported to the administrator's location, they realized something was amiss. In front of them were huge racks filled with weapons, armor and the likes. Ranging from big swords, crossbows, shields and kunai knives, it was quite a scary sight. Next to the equipment there was a grand, black stone tablet with red letters written across it. It read:

    "The time has come.

    Three global moderators, only one can remain.

    Recruit those you can from the forum within the next hour, prepare for battle with the equipment before you and then ...

    Go to war.

    Good luck."

    Neither one of the moderators knew what to do. They stood still, immobilized by confusion and fear. They were sure this had to be some kind of a twisted joke.

    "Alright, this is stupid. What the hell is going on?" Breaking the silence, Kaguya shouted that as he surveyed his surroundings.

    A dark voice suddenly echoed through the area. It was impossible to tell where the voice came from; it was a thundering roar that made all the moderators flinch.

    "Select your fighters, or face the consequences! This is not a joke. This is a matter of life and death!"

    The sudden overpowering voice made the mods even more uneasy, but they still didn't act. This was a mistake.

    Suddenly, a strange black sphere appeared before them. It was about the size of a football, and for a few seconds it merely floated in mid air. It gave of a strange crackling noise, similar to an electric current. Slowly but surely, the sphere started increasing in size, until it was big enough to fit a small car. Then, a big rift of pure white light split the sphere in two, and the figures of two people suddenly appeared in its stead. It took a few seconds for the moderators to recognize the people in front of them, but they soon realized, they were Fuwanovel members; 12kami and XionsProphecy. They both look terrified, as if they had just seen the devil himself.

    XionsProphecy took a step forward and approached Kaguya.

    "W-What is going on?! Where am I?!"

    Before Kaguya had the time to respond, the overpowering voice once again erupted throughout the area.

    "You will do as we say, or the consequences will be grave!"

    And with that, a red magic circle appeared under the feet of XionsProphecy and a pillar of fire burst out beneath him. The sound of his screams and the smell of burning flesh made all the people present stare at the spectacle in shock. Terrified he would be next, 12Kami tried to run away, but chains sprouted from the ground and wrapped around him violently.

    "Now, what will you do?"

    "S-Stop it!" Nosebleed shouted.

    "... Very well. If you are ready to begin, let me explain the rules. Each one of the moderators can recruit members from the forum to join their ranks. The moderators can use their own powers any way they want. Make your own fighters stronger by lending them your strength, directly attack your opponents army, make shields protecting your warriors. The game will be over once only one global moderator remains. Oh, and one last thing. You can name one of your fighters a general. This person will have ... A second chance at life, should something tragic occur." As the voice finished explaining the rules, an evil laughter followed. Soon after, all that was left was dead silence.
    ___________________________________________________________________________


     
    "That was four hours ago, huh..." Kaguya whispered to himself as he looked at the quiet battlefield.

     In the end, no one knows what happened to 12Kami. Was he killed too? Was he released?

    When the moderators chose their armies, only a handful of the forum's members were selected. It seemed that only the ones who volunteered for the battle could be picked.

    Looking over the warriors in front of him, Kaguya made a decision; he had waited long enough.

    "You two, move out!"

    The two soldiers saluted, and then they sprinted into the darkness of the forest ahead.

    ........

    Eight warriors were scattered across the battlefield on the first day. Among them were team Down's soldiers Nashetania, Funyarinpa, Fred the Barber, their general Tiagofvarela and Moekyun. From team Kaguya, Dergonu and Velociraptor were deployed, and from team Nosebleed, only < ?? >was sent out to fight.

    ........


     
    In a forest, 2 km from Kaguya's base

    Dergonu and Velociraptor were headed for Down's territory, when a sudden fireball shot out from the depths of the forest. Barely dodging it by a hair, the two were separated from each other. Losing track of Velociraptor, Dergonu turned to face the person who fired the fireball. He was protected by Kaguya's armor, but the amount of energy put into each warrior's shield was small, meaning he couldn't take more than one or two of those attacks. Who had fired it? Was it someone from Nosebleed's team or Down?

    "Who's there?!" Calling out for the person hiding in the darkness, Dergonu readied his mace. The weapon of his choice had been a huge metal mace, almost as big as himself, with menacing spikes. It was a weapon he couldn't dream of lifting without the strength given to him by his commander, Kaguya.

    A shadow suddenly burst out from the forest. Before Dergonu could react, two throwing knives collided with his armor. Both of them hit right around the heart, but they were stopped by the thick, red armor. Not wasting any time, the attacker nimbly closed in the distance. It took a second for Dergonu to recognize the attacker due to their speed, but he soon saw that is was MoeKyun from Down's army.  The shimmering green garb he wore had several chains filled with throwing knives. Reaching for two more, MoeKyun made sure to stay so close to Dergonu that swinging his mace was impossible. Taking the opportunity when Dergonu was unable to do anything, MoeKyun stabbed at Dergonu's armor repeatedly. It didn't take long for the attacks to completely remove the protective shield made by Kaguya, and the knives started poking small holes in Dergonu's armor.

    "Tch." Clicking his tongue, Dergonu tried to think of a way to get out of the situation. But before he could think of anything, one of MoeKyun's knives hit Dergonu's collarbone, sending a sharp pain through his body. Taking a step back and readying his knife, MoeKyun was preparing to deliver the final blow, when he suddenly froze up. Turning his head to depths of the forest from which he came, his mouth dropped open in surprise.

    "N-No way ... G-General..."

    Not wasting any time, Dergonu used the chance to take a step backwards and swung his mace straight at MoeKyun's chest. A green barrier deflected the hit and made sure the mace didn't break the skin, but MoeKyun was knocked down from the impact. Landing on the ground with the air knocked out of his lungs, he never stood a chance. The giant mace came down, hitting his head. Once again, Down's protective barrier blocked the attack, but every part of Moekyun's body felt like it was lit on fire from the pain.

    "This time..." As he said that, Dergonu lifted the mace over his head one last time and brought it down on MoeKyun. What followed was a gruesome crack like sound, like breaking a branch of a tree.


    Team Down MoeKyun- DEAD END

    ___________________________________________________________________________

    A few minutes earlier, 100 meters from Nosebleed's base.

    Down's general, Tiagofvarela, was making his way towards Nosebleed's base. Compared to Down and Kaguya, Nosebleed had a significantly smaller army, and so Down thought it was best to target him first. Because of this, Down had sent his strongest fighter in an ambush. If Nosebleed wanted to participate in the fight, he had to send several of his forces out into the battle, meaning his base would be exposed. It would be a fast, quick attack. Take out whoever is there and get the hell out. For his weapon, Tiago had chosen a long katana, which rested in a sheath strapped to his left side. He was wearing a green garb, woven by powerful silk threads imbued by Down's own energy. His garb was slightly different from the others in Down's army. This one was specially created for the general. The biggest difference was the big crest on the chest and back, with the word leader written in kanji.

    As he spotted Nosebleed's base, Tiago took a deep breath and drew his katana. The blade was about a meter long, with beautiful markings.

    "Let's do this."

    Preparing for his attack, Tiago steeled his nerves and readied his blade. Then, he charged.

    "Perish."

    A soft whisper suddenly reached Tiago's ear, and a strong sense of despair washed over him. The voice sent a chill down his spine. It was as if the voice literally grabbed a hold of him, preventing him from moving. Before he could do anything, a man in a pink and black cloak stood before him. It was impossible to identify who it was, as the large cloak covered his head and body completely. The man simply snapped his fingers, and a huge explosion knocked Tiago several meters back. He felt his barrier slowly draining. Whoever attacked him was truly powerful.  

    "How did he notice me?!" He asked himself, trying to calm his hammering heartbeat.

    "Game over." Suddenly, a different voice could be heard behind Tiago, and something cold cut through his chest. Looking down at his own body, he saw a long spear sticking out of his stomach.

    "W-Who..?"

    He never got the answer to that question. Tiago's body fell to the ground, lifeless.


     
     
    Team Down, Tiagofvarela- DEAD END

    ___________________________________________________________________________


     
    The volcanic region, 3 km from Down's base

    Fred the Barber from team Down was positioned behind a large rock. The area around him was filled with smoke, ash and fire, and the only thing stopping him from being burned alive was his commander's protective garb. This was a volcano located a few km away from Down's base. Fred had been in a battle with one of Nosebleed's men for several minutes, when he suddenly felt it. His general, Tiagofvarela, had fallen. Hit by the sudden shock of losing one of his leaders, he fled from the battle in order to gather his thoughts. It was a strange feeling. Tiago had been his friend, and in this crazy battle, he had been his general. A powerful sadness welled up in him as he shook his head, holding back his tears.  Why? Why was this happening? Just a day ago they were messing around on the forum, having fun like any other day. And now? Now they were here, caught in some insane death game.

    "I ... I want this to be over." He whispered as he placed his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes.

    "Then die."

    A sudden hostile voice made Fred jump backwards, and just as he opened his eyes, he saw a fist slam into the rock he was leaning against, crushing it into small rubble. It was him; the fighter from nosebleed's army that he had been in a scuffle with a few minutes ago. Because of his cloak which covered every part of his body, it was impossible to identify who the attacker was. The cloak was black, with pink markings all over. The attacker was unarmed, but his hands glowed in a bright purple light. Clearly, he was using his energy to make his punches stronger. Whoever this person was, he was powerful. Had they underestimated team Nosebleed? Fred's general had fallen in nosebleed's territory, and this person was clearly using energy to make his fists into lethal killing machines. How could Fred fight such a fearful foe in his current state?

    "No... I can do this. I have to avenge Tiago!" Encouraging himself, Fred got to his feet and readied his weapon. It was dagger with a fairly long, curved blade. The tip was emitting a faint green glow and the blade itself was black as the night. Of all the weapons on the weapon racks, this was the only thing Fred felt comfortable wielding. Carefully taking a stance preparing for the fight, Fred calmed his breathing and grasped his dagger tightly.

    The attacker moved first. His movements were really fast and precise. Fred managed to dodge the first punch, but the second one followed right after. The assailant's fist hit Fred in the left flank, causing him to fall backwards. But as his body fell to the ground he moved his arm holding the dagger downwards and cut a deep gash in the attacker's cloak. It didn't look like the blade pierced his flesh, but Fred felt the resistance of his opponents barrier. He had done some damage to it at the very least. The problem was that he had taken a strong hit himself, and wasn't able to move very well. His opponent quickly regained his posture and moved in for the kill. Just then, an arrow flew past Fred's cheek and hit the attacker in the stomach. The impact of the arrow sent him flying.

    "You okay Fred?"

    Turning his head to see who had come to help him, he was met by Funyarinpa's gentle smile. In his hands was a beautiful green longbow.

    "Come on. Let's retreat for now. Whoever that guy is, he isn't normal."

    As he said that, Funya reached out for Fred's hand and helped him up.

    Tilting his head slightly, Fred wondered what Funya meant.

    "Isn't normal? I think we can take him if it's the two of us."

    Funya simply shook his head in response.

    "I got word from Down to come and get you. There is something wrong with Nosebleed's army. We have to go back to the base and ..." Before he could finish his sentence, a purple light flew past Fred's field of vision and collided with Funya. His bow was crushed into pieces and Funya was knocked down, his barrier broken.

    "FUNYA!" Screaming for his fallen comrade, Fred turned to face the attacker. It was the same cloaked man from before. The arrow was still sticking out of his chest but he moved around like it was nothing.

    "..." The man said nothing, but approached Fred with his fists raised. The purple light which surrounded his hands flickered about intimidatingly.

    The man jumped at Fred, knocking him to the ground. After that, he made sure to grab Fred's blade and throw it away.

    "..." The man still didn't say anything, but Fred could see a hint of an evil smile under the darkness of the attacker's hood.

    Raising his fists above his head, he prepared to bash Fred's head in. But he had made one miscalculation. The arrow that was sticking out of his chest was within Fred's reach. Fred had merely pretended to be defenseless when he lost his dagger to get an opening. Grabbing the arrow with all his might, Fred pulled it out of the man's chest and thrust it upwards into his throat. The arrowhead pierced his Adam's apple and blood started spewing out from the open wound.

    Making a disgusting gurgling sound, the man slowly lost all strength in his body. The endless stream of blood poured out, staining Fred's clothing in red.

    After defeating his opponent, Fred checked on Funya. He was too late. The attacker had crushed his entire rib cage, and one of the bone splinters had hit his heart.

    "Who ... WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Screaming in anger, Fred ripped off the attacker's hood. All he could do once he removed the hood was gasp, and fall to his knees.

    "W-What the fuck..?"

    Lying on the scorched ground in front of him was ...


     
    Team Down, Funyarinpa- DEAD END.

    Team Nosebleed, < ?? > - DEAD END.

    ___________________________________________________________________________





     
    Meanwhile, at Nosebleed's base


    "Hmm, it seems our puppet has been destroyed."

    "Aww, I thought it would at least take out a few more enemies before it broke."

    "Hmph. It doesn't matter, it did its job just fine. Now we know ... They work."

    Three men were sitting around a fire with their weapons next to them. They wore black cloaks with pink symbols; the armor given to them by their commander, Nosebleed.

    The three men were chosen as guards, and were protecting the base of Nosebleed. Nosebleed's army consisted of about half the number of warriors that Down and Kaguya had, but Nosebleed had a trick up his sleeve.

    Using the life force of the fallen general from Down's army, Tiago, he had created clones of his own warriors. These warriors were as strong as Tiago himself, and took the place of his own fighters on the battlefield. They didn't have the extra life that came with the role of general, but other than that, they were powerful and loyal. Each clone was linked to one of Nosebleed's soldiers.

    The one that had been killed in battle had been the clone of Kiriririri, but Nosebleed had made the clone itself wear the face of Tiago. That would assure him an edge in any fight versus a team Down member. Sadly, that trick only worked once, as the body of Tiago himself had been used to create the clone. All the other clones were identical to the person they copied. Basically, it was as if nosebleed literally had two of each of his fighters, except for Kiriririri who had just lost his clone.

    With this, the difference in numbers between the three armies meant nothing.

    A sly smile spread across Nosebleed's face as he looked at his own general, Mitchhamilton. He held a long, golden spear stained with blood.

    "Now... Who is next?"

    ___________________________________________________________________________

    * Quick note, the clones in Nosebleed's army works just like a normal fighter.

    This was done so that each commander has the same amount of fighters, making the first week of the RNG rolls completely even. Each clone will die just like a normal team member, though the person won't get a DEAD END unless he has lost his clone already. (Like Kiriririri has now.)

    Mitchhamilton, Nosebleed's general, does NOT get a clone, as he is a general and already has 2 lives.

    ___________________________________________________________________________

    A forest, about 2 km from Kaguya's base

    Having lost sight of his comrade, Dergonu, Velociraptor was making his way through the forest. Who had attacked them? Was it an attacker from Nosebleed or Down's army? Well, it didn't matter. All he could do now was search for his opponent and hope that Dergonu hadn't fallen in the time they were separated.

    "Hm?" As he was running through the dense forest, Velociraptor spotted a strange light about 30 meters away. Was it an enemy? The light seemed to be flickering ever so slightly, though because of the tree cover it was hard to see what it was. Preparing for a potential fight, Velo readied his weapon and ran towards the source. He was surprised to find a member of Down's army sleeping near a fire. Was he for real..? Not only had he approached Kaguya's territory, he had lit a fire and then he went to sleep?! Who the hell was this guy?!

    Taking a step closer, he saw that the fighter was Nashetania.

    "Hmph... A free kill I guess." Whispering to himself, he readied his weapon. It was an extension of his hand; a glove with long, sharp claws. Each claw was at least 10 cm long. The glove itself was made out of tough leather, and the claws were metal. Lifting the glove above his head, he brought it down on Nash, who was sleeping peacefully. Or so Velo thought. As the glove was about to make contact with Nash, he quickly spun around and brought his fist upward. It hit Velo right in the face, making him stagger backwards.

    "Well would you look at that. Like a moth to a flame." Nash moved his hand behind his back and brought out a large battleaxe from inside his garb.

    "RAAAWR!" Jumping forward, Nash struck at Velo with full force. Barely dodging the attack, Velo sidestepped and cut at Nashetania's exposed back. The claws hit, but something tough was stopping them from doing any damage.

    "Damnit, a barrier?"

    Putting some distance between them, Velo ran a few steps backwards, positioning himself behind the fire Nash had lit.

    "You can't cut me! Down gave me the strongest barrier among all his men! No matter how many times you hit me, a blade won't ever cut through it!"

    After taunting Velo, Nash launched another attack, swinging his battleaxe around like a madman. Velo was faster and had a lighter weapon, but just like Nash had said, his attacks were useless against the barrier.

    Had this been Down's tactic? Draw someone in close to his soldier, then have him crush the attacker when he least expects it? Seeing has he had put so much energy into the barrier protecting Nash, it must have been the plan all along.

    "Damnit..."

    If only Dergonu was with him they would have the upper hand, but because of the attack earlier, they were separated in the forest. 

    "What's the matter? Tired?" Smiling from ear to ear, Nash relentlessly attacked Velo with his battleaxe. A few of the attacks hit, sending strong waves of numb pain through Velo's body.

    "Think! THINK!!! How can I beat him?!" Trying to figure out a way to win, Velo looked around.

    "An opening!" As Nash yelled that, he spun around quickly and his battleaxe hit Velo in the chest, sending him flying over to the fire. He landed hard, most likely breaking a few bones in the process.

    Had Nash been the one who attacked them earlier? Was his plan to split them up, then draw them in one by one with the use of the campfire? ...

    Wait a minute... Fire! Nash had said that no blades could cut through his barrier. Could that mean it had little defense against magic? Was that the reason he was trying to lure his attacker into close combat?

    "DIE!" Running towards Velo who had fallen to the ground, Nash prepared to crush his defenseless prey with a final attack.

    "Now or never!" Velo brought his hands together and focused all his remaining strength on tapping the flames from the campfire besides him. Just the act of moving his arms hurt like hell, but he had no choice but to fight through the pain. As Nash was about to strike, Velo released all the flames in a vortex that wrapped itself around Nash. The flames ate through his barrier like it was nothing, and soon started burning away his flesh. Screaming and swinging his battleaxe around like a lunatic, Nash moved around desperately. In order to not get caught in the frenzy, Velo crawled away, sinking his glove's claws into the soft ground and pulling his body forward.

    "I ... Lost..." With those final words, the burning figure collapsed.

    Team Down, Nashetania- DEAD END


     

     

     

     

     

     
    ___________________________________________________________________________

    Deaths this week:

    Team Nosebleed: Kiriririri (clone)

    Team Down: Nashetania, Funyarinpa, Tiagofvarela, Moekyun,

    Team Kaguya: None

    ___________________________________________________________________________

    To be continued ...



  25. Dergonu
    The last GM standing Q&A:
     
    Link to the thread:

    Would you rather read the chapters in a PDF document? Click here!
     
    Chapter 1:
     
     
    The Last GM Standing - Day 2:
     
    Team Down's base
     
     
     
    Down was leaning over several graves, looking down at the faces of his fallen comrades. Heavy raindrops fell from the dark sky, hammering against the green barrier that protected the graveyard. Down did not want the ground where his brave warriors were put to rest disturbed, and had put up a protective shield around it. The previous day's battle had claimed the lives of four of his soldiers. Tiagofvarela, Down's general, had been resurrected because of his position as general, but the other three were never coming back. The state that he had found them in had been absolutely horrifying. MoeKyun was completely unrecognizable, with a crushed cranium. Funyarinpa had his entire rib cage split open. Nashetania was burned to a crisp, and lastly Tiagofvarela was completely gone; made into a puppet by Nosebleed and his general.
     
    "I won't ever forgive you for this." Cursing his enemies, Down turned around to face his remaining forces. Not a hint of fear could be seen on their faces. In its place he could see anger, hatred and a lust for revenge. Their weapons glistened in the faint moonlight, creating a heavy atmosphere that carried death and destruction. Upon losing so many of his warriors on the first day, Down had decided to take direct action. He would not sit by and watch more of his men fall while he himself sat around idly. Breaking the sullen silence with a voice that carried authority and bravery, Down spoke up:
     
    "Today we will avenge our fallen! The reaper of death will no longer look to us for its victims! It will follow us, but the blood that it feeds on will be that of our enemies! Today, we bring down the evils that waits beyond those mountains!"
     
    Raising his arm and pointing towards the huge volcano that towered some distance from them, Down pridefully drew his weapon. It was a gigantic two-handed sword, with a hilt long as a grown man's arm. The blade was forged in a green metal, Down's team color, and the massive weapon made the ground beneath Down's feet crack open from the sheer amount of power it held.
     
    "TO WAAAAR!" Down shouted just as a lightning bolt struck the ground next to their barrier. The sudden roar of the thunder made his men flinch, but they soon joined in.
     
    "TO WAAAAAR!" As the voices of Down's army rang throughout the mountains, a dark shadow spread across the centre of the battlefield.
     
    Team Kaguya had already set off, and they were approaching Nosebleed's base with great speed. Team Down were headed for Nosebleed's base as well, and moved swiftly through the storm. Nosebleed himself had prepared for battle, sensing that a great danger was approaching.
     
    Soon the three armies would clash, marking the start of the most fierce battle yet. Who would come out victorious? How many would die before the winner was crowned?
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    - The Last GM Standing, Chapter 2 -
     
    The Cloaked Reaper
     
     
     
    The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching could be heard in the distance. The ground under Mitchhamilton's feet shook as the two armies approached from the east and the west. There was no cover anywhere, just a huge open field that went on for a kilometer. No matter what, a stealthy approach was impossible. Clutching his gilded spear in his hand, Mitch took a look around. Two clones were at a ready, weapons drawn, and the rest of Nosebleed's army was spread out across the area; ready for the battle that was to come. Nosebleed himself had marched out to face off against Down, who had charged in ahead of his troops. As the two clashed, a massive shockwave had swept all the trees and vegetation completely off the face of the earth. What remained was charred ground, like something out of an old apocalypse movie.
     
    It didn't take long for the first attacker to appear. Swiftly running towards them, three figures clad in Down's green garb drew their weapons. It wasn't possible for Mitch to see who the attackers were from the distance, but that didn't matter. Signaling the clones at his side, he sent them out to face off against the unknown assailants. The two instantly faced off against an opponent each, leaving only one attacker still on his way towards Mitch.
     
    "Well then, let's do this." As he said that, Mitch tightly gripped his spear and hurled it with great velocity at the approaching enemy. The spear made an intimidating sound as it flew through the air, and a loud clink signaling the clashing of steel resounded throughout the battlefield. The spear had not hit its target, but instead it had been stopped by the attacker's weapon.
     
    "Tch. Reappear!" Commanding his spear to once again appear in his hand, Mitch opened his palm, and a pink magic circle shimmered brightly, making the spear teleport back to him. Grasping it tightly once more, he jumped at his opponent.
     
    "Neat trick you have there." The attacker said as he deflected Mitch's attack. His weapon was a big cleaver; the kind that a butcher would use. He wielded it in his right hand, and his left hand was hidden within his cloak. Did he have another weapon concealed there? Making sure not to get too close, Mitch continued to stab at his opponent with his spear.
     
    "Seems I caught a general. Not bad." A mischievous smile on his opponents face made the hair on Mitch's arms stand up. It was a chilling sight; the sight of someone who enjoys battle. That in itself made the blood in Mitchhamilton's body boil. This was a worthy opponent.
     
    "Break!" Taking a quick step back, Mitch snapped his fingers and the ground beneath his opponents feet cracked open. It wasn't a deep hole, but it was enough so that he might break a leg or sustain moderate damage. But instead of falling into the trap, the opponent grabbed a hold of Mitch's spear with his bare hand, and nimbly pushed himself backwards. He landed safely a few yards behind the hole. The hand he had used to grip the spear was bleeding fiercely, but it didn't look like the attacker minded at all.
     
    "State your name!" Mitch called out as he tried to identify his opponent. It was a man he had seen before, there was no doubt about it, but he had trouble remembering his name.
     
    "Nohman. Remember it, because it will be the last name you ever hear!" Charging straight at Mitch, Nohman shifted his cleaver to his other hand and hit Mitch's shoulder hard. Because of his spear being a long range weapon, it was hard to deflect such an attack. The barrier protecting Mitch made the cleaver bounce back, but he could feel the energy draining from his protective shield. Such a strong blow ...
     
    The two clashed again and again, each time they deflected each other's attacks with precision. In the form of skill they were equally matched, but Mitch was at a disadvantage because of his long range weapon. Every time he managed to push Nohman back, he would come charging forward again.
     
    "This is bad. At this rate, he is going to defeat me. I have to get some distance between us again." Thinking to himself, Mitch tried to find an opening that would allow him to move away from his opponent. He couldn't use too much magic, as every time he did, it put a great deal of strain on his body. Seeing as he was already getting tired, it would have to be an absolute last resort. The attacks coming from Nohman were relentless. Every time he struck at Mitch, he hit in a slightly different spot, with slightly different strength. It made calculating where and when his next attack would occur nearly impossible. All that Mitch was able to do was block the oncoming attacks.
     
    "Are you getting tired general?" Nohman taunted Mitch as he continued to strike at his torso. A few of the attacks went through Mitch's guard and hit his barrier, but most of them were deflected.
     
    "There really is no other way, is there?" Deciding that he had to resort to his final trump card, Mitch completely let go of his spear and extended his right arm so that it was pointing right at Nohman's chest. Probably realizing what Mitch was doing, Nohman suddenly jumped sideways in fear of an oncoming attack. But he had instead walked right into Mitch's trap. Using his left hand, he pointed two of his fingers towards Nohman's new location. Channeling all the remaining strength in his body, two magic circles appeared in front of his extended fingers. Shortly after, two beams of energy shot out, moving quickly towards his defenseless opponent. The first beam hit right below Nohman's collarbone, the other one hitting him in the right shoulder. Both went straight through his barrier and burned their way through the skin, leaving behind large holes in his body.
     
    Not wasting any time, Mitch moved backwards and grabbed his spear that was on the ground. Finally getting some distance, he prepared for one final attack. But... Something felt a little strange. His stomach was tingling, and his body wouldn't move. Looking down at his own torso, Mitch saw great amounts of crimson blood running down his legs, down onto the charred ground.
     
    "W-What..?" In a weak voice, Mitch questioned what had happened. Falling to his knees, he used what remaining strength he had in order to stay conscious. A shadow moved in front of him. It started talking as it presented a cleaver stained with blood. Unable to decipher the meaning of the man's words due to his fading conscience, Mitch collapsed on the spot.  He was already beyond saving...
     
    Team Nosebleed, Mitchhamilton- DEAD END
     
    ...
     
    "My oh my, it seems it works." Looking down at the dead general, Nohman cleaned his bloody cleaver with the edge of his clothing. A few seconds earlier, Mitchhamilton had attacked Nohman with all his remaining strength, hoping to take him down in one attack. Problem was, the man Mitch was attacking was just a doppelganger. Mitch had not noticed it during Nohman's relentless assault, but right before Mitch dropped his spear, Nohman had used some of his strength to create a clone of himself. He suspected Mitch might be up to something, and took some precautions. Right after Mitch had gone to pick up his spear after he attacked Nohman's doppelganger, Nohman had cut Mitch's stomach open with his blade. The cut had gone all the way back to his spine, nearly cutting Mitch in half.
     
    "Rest in peace, general." With those words, Nohman left the area and looked around for new prey.
     
    ___________________________________________________________________________
     
    A few hundred meters away, Team Kaguya's temporary command post
     
    Moving quickly towards Kaguya's base, several hooded men in pink cloaks were running towards VirginSmasher's location. He counted four attackers in total. By his side was Kaguya, his fearless leader, wearing a long white jacket that simply hung from his shoulders. His arms weren't in the sleeves, yet the jacket stuck to his body perfectly, as if it was fastened by some invisible force. Unlike his soldiers, Kaguya was not wearing any armor, but instead he wore a long jacket with red writing on the back. He was seemingly unarmed, and paid no attention to the battles raging around him. Kaguya's tactic was simple. March out and make it seem like he was attacking. Then, pull back ever so slightly and wait for Down and Nosebleed to wipe each other out. Although it had worked at first, Nosebleed had now sent a few of his soldiers out to face off against Kaguya's army. As he noticed the approaching enemies, Kaguya sighed and shook his head.
     
    "Just when I had some peace and quiet. Ugh, you, kill those morons." Waving his hand casually at VirginSmasher, Kaguya turned around and carelessly walked away.
     
    "V-Very well sir!" Grasping his bow tightly, VirginSmasher drew four arrows at once, strung the bow, and fired. The arrows flew towards their targets with great speed and accuracy. Why were they not dodging? The arrows simply hit the four men, bringing them to a halt as they all fell to the ground, motionless. Was that it? He had at least expected their barriers to deflect the first shot, but there was absolutely no resistance at all.
     
    "Was the shots simply stronger than they had imagined?.." Wondering what exactly had happened, VirginSmasher drew another arrow and carefully started to approached the fallen enemies. There was blood flowing from their heads, and each one of the bodies lay perfectly still.
     
    "Freeze."
     
    A sudden chilling voice coming from behind made VirginSmasher quickly spin around. As he moved his legs backwards to get some distance from his target, his body started aching. The temperature suddenly plummeted, and a thin layer of ice started appearing all over his body.
     
    "Crap, magic?" Trying to shake of the ice that was restricting his body, VirginSmasher made sure to stay in motion so that the frost couldn't settle. He had been reckless. It was such an obvious distraction, and yet he had approached it without taking any real precautions. Just as he expected, the four men he had shot down earlier were now gone. Most likely it had been some form of magic as well. Whoever he was fighting clearly prefer magic over a physical confrontation. 
     
    "W-Who's there?!" Calling out to the mysterious opponent through clenched teeth, VirginSmasher tried to get a look at the man's face. The man moved his hands slowly towards his hood and removed it.
     
    "Deep Blue huh?" VirginSmasher recognized the man as Nosebleed's soldier Deep Blue.
     
    Not bothering to give an answer, Deep Blue launched his body forward and hit VirginSmasher right in the chest. The ice that had restricted his body broke off forcefully, sending strong waves of pain through his entire being. A thin layer of skin was ripped off along with the ice.
     
    "GAAARGH..." Letting out a pained scream, VirginSmasher kicked at his opponent blindly with all his might. His leg hit something and he heard a light groan. This gave him time to awkwardly get back on his feet. His vision was blurry and his arms, legs and torso hurt like hell. Trying to string his bow with his weak arms, he aimed towards the general direction of his target and prepared to attack. He did not have time to look for a specific target; a general outline of Deep Blue's figure was the best he could do. Firing the first arrow, VirginSmasher quickly moved his hand behind his back to reach for another one. Trouble was, his quiver was gone.
     
    "Tch. Did I lose it in the fall earlier?" Clicking his tongue and whispering to himself, he tried to move backwards to look for his quiver. Sadly for him, Deep Blue had recovered from the attack and was once again approaching. VirginSmasher's vision was still quite poor from the damage sustained in his fall, so he wasn't able to see if the arrow had hit or not. Moreover, it became impossible to see where his opponent would be striking him next.
     
    "Ice bullets!" Deep Blue shouted and a few seconds after, a strong impact in his abdomen sent VirginSmasher flying once again.
     
    "W-What a stupid name for an attack..." He managed to squeeze out before he hit the ground. As his body hit the hard ground beneath him, his consciousness faded for a few seconds.
     
    ...
     
    Deep Blue's perspective:
     
    I had fired four ice bullets at my target, though because of the arrow sticking out of my shoulder, my aim had been a little off. Only one of the bullets had hit, not making the impact hard enough to be lethal. It seemed he had been knocked unconscious though.
     
    "Stupid brat..." I shook my head and moved over towards the fallen warrior. He was quite cocky, something that annoyed me. There was no room for such an attitude on the battlefield.
     
    He had also been way too easy to trick, as a simple illusion had made him approach his enemy despite being a bowman. Such foolishness would be the end of him.
     
    Creating a spike of ice in my hand, I leant down towards the fallen soldier and brought it towards his heart. I would be merciful. One stab to the heart would kill him in a few seconds.
     
    "Good night." With those words I put some force into my hand and thrust the spike into his chest.
     
    "Gnnnnng..." Groaning from the pain of being stabbed, his body started thrashing about. The barrier still protecting him was surprisingly strong, making the initial blow not enough to break the skin. I put some more force into it, but the barrier still wouldn't give in.
     
    "W-What the hell?"
     
    "Sorry. That kid gets a second chance. I liked his guts." A voice coming seemingly from nowhere made Deep Blue stop in his tracks. I-It couldn't be ... Was that Kaguya? Had he entered the battle himself already?
     
    I better retreat for now... As I thought that, I got up and started running back the way I came.
     
    ...
     
    "Come on kid, get up." Kaguya was standing over the fallen VirginSmasher, extending his hand to help him up. It was a surprising move, considering Kaguya's personality, but VirginSmasher would never turn down the help of his commander. Gratefully accepting the help, VirginSmasher got to his feet.
     
    "Now go on, make yourself useful. He still hasn't gotten far. Take him out with one shot." Pointing towards the figure of Deep Blue, Kaguya turned around and started walking away. That was all the help he would get, huh? Still, it was all he needed.
     
    "Let's do this."
     
    VirginSmasher still had no arrows, and his target was getting further and further away. Any more than that and he would be out of range. He had to get his quiver back for starters. Spotting it about 5 meters away, VirginSmasher reluctantly moved his still painful body towards it. The arrows were all spread across the ground, some broken in the fall. It took a few seconds to find an arrow with no damage.
     
    Getting into position, he strung his bow and carefully drew his breath. Then, he let the air out just as he fired the arrow. It flew through the air, whistling, as it made its way towards Deep Blue. The arrow then pierced his head, making Deep Blue fall to the ground.
     
    Deep Blue, Team Nosebleed- (CLONE) DEAD END
     
    ...
     
    ...
     
    ...
     
    "Phew... Kaguya, I hit him." Turning around to inform his commander of the kill, VirginSmasher instead ended up freezing up in shock. Kaguya was no longer behind him, but instead he was staring down the length of a gilded spear that was aimed right at his heart. It was precisely the same place Deep Blue had try to stab him just minutes earlier.
     
    "Sorry kid, you got some bad luck." With those words, the attacker, Mitchhamilton sent his spear forward, crushing the remaining strength in VirginSmasher's barrier. The feeling of his ribs being broken and his heart stopping was the last thing he remembered. After that, everything went black.
     
    VirginSmasher, Team Kaguya- DEAD END
     
     
     
    Turning around in surprise at the sudden feeling of losing one of his warriors, Kaguya looked towards the place he had just helped VirginSmasher and saw several soldiers in black and pink cloaks. Where had they come from?! He had not noticed their arrival at all.
     
    Despite having given him a second chance, VirginSmasher hadn't been able to do much at all.
     
    "Hmph, what a waste." The soldiers from Nosebleed's team quickly surrounded Kaguya and pointed their weapons at him.
     
    "This is the end Kaguya." The one who spoke up was Nosebleed's general, Mitchhamilton. From what Kaguya had heard, he had fallen in battle earlier. He must have been resurrected by Nosebleed right after.
     
    "Haha. Right, end. Ok. Give me your best shot then." Lifting his arms in the air sarcastically, Kaguya simply stared back at the men with a carefree look.
     
    "Tch, you bastard!" Stabbing Kaguya with his spear, Mitchhamilton was the first one to act. The spear tickled a little bit, but did not inflict any damage. Probably surprised at the inefficiency of his attack, Mitch ended up staring at his own weapon in shock for a few seconds.
     
    "Alright, is the fun over? I'm going to go stand over there. You guys enjoy." Leaving his opponents behind, Kaguya simply walked away. One of the attackers seemed angered at his carefree attitude in such a situation and jumped at Kaguya. He never got close though. As his sword was moving through the air, a bolt of lightning shot out from the distance, knocking the blade along with its wielder back.
     
    Three of Kaguya's soldiers, Velociraptor, Hitoribocchi and his general Greenshadow622 quickly came to their commander's aid.
     
    "Took you guys long enough." Kaguya said in an emotionless voice as he walked away from the battle.  
     
    ...
     
    On the open field, six figures were visible. Three of the warriors were from Kaguya's team, and the other three from nosebleed's. Among the six were, from team Nosebleed: Mitchhamilton, Nebjula and Kiriririri. Kiriririri was unarmed, using his fists as weapons. Mitchhamilton held a long, gilded spear and Nebjula was holding two small maces, one in each hand. From Team Kaguya was, Velociraptor, Hitoribocchi and Greenshadow622. Velociraptor had a leather glove with metal claws, Hitoribocchi had a greataxe that he wielded with ease using only one hand, and Greenshadow622 had a black longsword and a big round shield. The atmosphere was heavy as the brave soldiers stared at each other. No one wanted to make the first move. As they stood there, waiting for their opponents to act, a dark cloud slowly covered the entire battlefield. Blocking the sun completely, a suffocating darkness consumed the area. As no one had yet spoken a word, a heavy silence was slowly driving them all crazy.
     
    A great battle was approaching...
     
    ___________________________________________________________________________
     
    A few km away, in the aftermath of Nosebleed and Down's scuffle
     
    Arcadeotic from team Kaguya was sitting on the charred ground, resting his tired body. Just minutes ago the two commanders, Down and Nosebleed, had been fighting each other. Compared to the strength of foot soldiers such as himself, their powers were from a completely different world. It took almost all his strength just to remain standing during their battle. They had struck at each other with weapons, fists and powerful magic, and each move had sent waves of energy throughout the surrounding area, leaving it a barren wasteland. The surreal duel had lasted a while but it was suddenly interrupted when ... That arrived. Standing in the centre of the battlefield with shimmering yellow eyes, a man clad in a black robe looked at the two commanders menacingly. In his hand was a big scythe, making him look like the grim reaper himself. The most surprising thing of all, he had stopped the two monster's attacks with his bare hands. What or who was that?
     
    It seemed that the answer to that wouldn't come quite yet. As quickly as it had appeared, it once again vanished into thin air. But right before it did, something rather strange happened. The two commanders, that just seconds ago had been going at each other's throats, turned around and simply left. This was quite weird, and also a little unfortunate. If the two leaders had taken each other out, then Kaguya would have been the winner right then and there.
     
    Seeing a sudden swift movement in the corner of his eye, Arc jumped sideways and grabbed his weapon, expecting a hostile. This was a good decision. Several kunai knives had suddenly hit the ground right where Arc was previously sitting. The kunai knives were coated in a strange, clear liquid, most likely poison. The kunai themselves were shimmering slightly in a deep green metal. Did that mean that the assailant was from team Down? Either way, it would be dangerous to be caught off guard for even a second against such a weapon. Just one cut and the poison would enter your veins. The most worrying part of it all though, was that his opponent was nowhere to be seen. Grasping his naginata tightly, Arc moved around in a circle, carefully looking around for his opponent.  Among the displayed weapons during the combat preparations first day, he had picked something a little more unique; a naginata. It seemed that his opponent, whoever he was, had also picked something a little different. A naginata makes for a medium range weapon that can deflect swords and the likes with ease, but a fight against someone with a throwing weapon could prove tricky. It is not as easy to move the naginata around to deflect oncoming throwing knives, making it a poor weapon for defending against his opponent's attacks. Moreover, he could not see his opponent, meaning he would already be at a disadvantage once the next attack came. Still, he would not give up. He would not want to disappoint his commander. Taking a deep breath and focusing on his surroundings, Arcadeotic kept looking around for his enemy...
     
    ...
     
    Still under the effect of his invisibility magic, Tiagofvarela moved quietly towards his opponent. The few kunai knives he had thrown earlier had missed by a hair. Now all he had left was his katana. His enemy, Arcadeotic from team Kaguya seemed to be quite the tough opponent. Despite not seeing Tiago at all until the second he attacked, Arc had managed to dodge all of the kunai knives completely. The poison that the knives were coated in would have killed him instantly if they even just nicked the skin.
     
    Complimenting Arc's impressive reflexes silently in his head, Tiago made his move. The spell he was being hidden by only lasted while he was not putting any real strain on his body. Essentially what that meant was, if he attacked someone or did anything that required him to use his muscles beyond just simple movements, the effect would disappear.
     
    Charging right at Arc, Tiago brought his katana down towards Arc's exposed back. Just like when he threw the kunai knives, Arc managed to notice Tiago just in the nick of time and turned around to deflect the attack. Sadly, because of his weapon being rather poorly matched in close combat, Tiago managed to cut Arc over his left shoulder. Using the opening this created to his advantage, Tiago spun around, nimbly moving out of the naginata's reach and cut at Arc's body once again. The previous cut had hit a barrier, but this one did not. Cutting through the soft skin on Arc's back, the katana made large amounts of blood stain Tiago's clothes in an ominous shade of red.
     
    "Gaaaah!" Falling to his knees whilst letting out a pained scream, Arcadeotic lost his grip on the naginata and was completely defenseless. The katana had cut rather deep, most likely doing some damage to the spinal cord. The fight was over.
     
    "Sorry, it really is nothing personal." With those words, Tiago swung his katana at Arc's neck, cutting through his carotid artery.
     
    After a few seconds, Arc's lifeless body collapsed on the ground.
     
    Team Kaguya, Arcadeotic- DEAD END
     
    ___________________________________________________________________________
     
    The sound of steel colliding with steel resounded throughout the open field. The sound was something one would not find anywhere else but on a battlefield such as this. This was a place of war. A place of death and pain. Among the six fighters who were lunging at each other with an intent to kill, only three would make it out alive.
     
    ...
     
    Nebjula, Team Nosebleed vs Velociraptor team Kaguya
     
    Striking at Velociraptor with his two maces, Nebjula put a great deal of strength into his legs and sharply moved forward. The violent attack took Velociraptor by surprise, and one of Nebjula's maces hit him in the stomach. His barrier barely managed to block most of the damage, but the impact still stent a tremor through his body. Because of his rather short range weapon made for assassinations, Velociraptor was having a hard time getting any attacks in at all. He had fought someone with a similar, brutal weapon before, but unlike the heavy battleaxe that he had faced then, these two maces were swift and relentless. Nebjula lifted one of the small but deadly maces above his head and brought it down towards Velociraptor. At the same time, he used the other mace to lunge at Velociraptor from the left side, making it hard for him to move around to dodge. The blow from above barely missed, but the second strike from the left collided with Velociraptor's cheek and knocked him down to the ground.
     
    "D-Damnit!" Cursing to himself, Velociraptor did the best he could to stand up again, but the last attack had left him dizzy and disoriented. Not being able to figure out what way was up and what was down, he was unable to get back on his feet.
     
    "No, no, NO! I can't lose like this! Damnit!" Not knowing what else to do, Velociraptor started yelling at himself.
     
    Not long after, two maces swept through the air and struck him in the head. The ends of the maces did not have spikes like some others do, but in return they had a sharp edge on both sides of the top, making it a fearful weapon. The sharp metal edges bored into Velociraptor's skull, breaking through the bone with ease. After a gruesome sound of bone cracking, the area become completely silent. ..
     
    Team Kaguya, Velociraptor- DEAD END
     
    ___________________________________________________________________________
     
    Hitoribocchi team Kaguya vs Mitchhamilton team Nosebleed
     
    "Raaaaaawr!" Swinging his greataxe down with all his might, Hitoribocchi attacked Mitchhamilton for what felt like the hundredth time. Each time he did, Mitchhamilton managed to block the attack and retaliate with a stab of his own. The spear was an unbelievably annoying adversary, as if Hito stepped a little too far back, he would be right in its kill zone. But if he stayed too close, it would be impossible for him to use his massive axe, meaning he would be as good as unarmed. The greataxe was a gigantic weapon, with a long blade smith with solid and thick metal. The spear that Mitch was using was rather thin and frail looking in comparison, so why was it that he was capable of blocking the powerful attacks with such ease?!
     
    "You annoying little ... Take this!" Changing up his attack pattern once more, Hito turned his axe around in the air, trying to hit Mitch in the head with the flat side. It would be impossible to completely stop the attack with just a thin spear. The large piece of metal approached Mitch with great speed, and sure enough, he was unable to stop the impact with his spear alone. Being knocked off his feet, Mitch stumbled to the ground.
     
    "This time I will carve you in half!" Lifting the axe above his head, Hito used both his hands to grip the handle, and whilst summoning all the strength in his body, he struck at Mitch. There was, of course, no way for him to block such a ruthless attack. But, Mitch did not need to block it. All he had to do was dodge. Rolling to the side just in time, the axe hit the ground, making a loud bang that made Mitch's ears ring. Since he had lost his spear whilst dodging the axe, Mitch had no weapon. The deafening roar of Hito's axe crashing down right next to his ear had made Mitch dizzy, but he fought through it and got to his feet. Kicking Hito in the chest with great force, he managed to separate Hito from his weapon too. They were now both unarmed. 
     
    "Yaaa!" Swiftly rushing towards Hito, Mitch moved his head down in order to dodge Hito's oncoming fist and rammed into his opponent with his shoulder. As he brought him to the ground, Mitch sat on top of his chest and locked his arms down with his own knees. Then, he started punching at Hito's face brutally. A few of the punches got stopped by the barrier protecting Hito, but after a some  more hits, it gave in and Mitch's fists hit flesh and bone. Ruthlessly punching his opponent's face for a long time, Mitch started to notice that his hands were bleeding. When he finally snapped back to reality, the figure before him was no longer recognizable as a human being...
     
    Team Kaguya, Hitoribocchi-DEAD END
     
    ___________________________________________________________________________
     
    Kiriririri Team Nosebleed vs Greenshadow622, Team Kaguya
     
    Greenshadow622 was carefully eying his opponent, waiting for him to make a move. Kiriririri was standing a few meters away with his fists raised, but he did not make a single movement. It had been like this for over a minute already. Greenshadow was getting agitated, but he remained adamant; he would not make the first move. His sword was raised slightly, pointing towards Kiri, and his shield was covering his chest region defensively. He was holding his shield about 15 cm out from his body, which meant Kiri had to strike at Greenshadow's feet or his back in order to get a clean hit. It would be rather difficult. For an opponent using only his fists, this was an unwinnable confrontation. Sadly for Greenshadow, Kiri was no longer alone. Two of his teammates had just finished up their fights, and approached Greenshadow with their weapons raised. Nebjula and Mitchhamilton had apparently defeated Greenshadow's comrades, and were turning to him next.
     
    "Hmph. It can't be helped. Get it over with, you pathetic weaklings. I might die here, but it sure as hell won't be without putting up a proper fight." Nebjula flinched slightly at Greenshadow's words, probably due to the determination and pride still left in his voice despite the situation. Nebjula slowly raised his weapons and got in a battle stance... Then, he charged. Following Nebjula's example, Kiri and Mitch also attacked Greenshadow simultaneously. One of Nebjula's maces was blocked by Greenshadow's shield. He then twisted his body sideways, avoiding the oncoming spear thrust from Mitch's direction. Retaliating by stabbing at Mitch with his sword, Greenshadow was handling the attacks from two sides with ease. Trouble was, there was a third attacked. One of Kiriririri's fists bored into Greenshadow's ribs, crushing his barrier and pushing him to the ground. Once he was on the ground he knew that it was a lost cause. Still, he would continue fighting until his limbs were incapable of moving. Fists, maces and a spear kept on hitting him as he lay there, but he would not give up. Using his shield to deflect some of the attacks and his sword to push back the attackers, Greenshadow kept up his resistance for several minutes. All three of his attackers sustained cuts during the battle. But, in the end, there was no way he could come out alive. Who dealt the final blow was impossible to tell, but after a little while, Greenshadow stopped moving. His entire body was stained with blood, covered completely in broken bones, deep cuts and large bruises.
     
    Team Kaguya, Greenshadow622-DEAD END
     
    The cloaked reaper was standing alone in the darkness, staring down at the battlefield below him. He was imprisoned in a strange room with no furniture, no doors and no windows. It was a place of eternal night, where no stars would ever shine. For the entire duration of the battle, he had been locked up. He did not know why and he did not know how. The only thing he knew was; someone were controlling him. A dark, scary voice spoke in his head every now and then. It would call out to him and make him feel utter despair and dread. There was nowhere to run, nothing he could do...
     
    "Prevent the commanders from fighting each other until the end, that is your purpose. That is the only reason you still live." The voice once again spoke to him and sent a powerful chill down his spine.
     
    He could do nothing but nod his head in agreement...
     
    "V-Very well..."
     
    ....
     
     
    ___________________________________________________________________________
     
    Deaths this week:
     
    Team Nosebleed: Deep Blue (CLONE), Mitchhamilton (General, -1 life),
     
    Team Down:
     
    Team Kaguya: VirginSmasher, Arcadeotic, Velociraptor, Hitoribocchi, Greenshadow622 (General, -1 life)
     
    ___________________________________________________________________________
     
     
    To be continued.
     
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    List of currently remaining members!!
    #Team Nosebleed: Members, Mitchhamilton (- 1 life) , Kiriririri - (1 life) , Satsuki , Valmore , Deep Blue (-1 life) , Nebjula , kingdomcome
    #Team Down: Members, Tiagofvarela (- 1 life) , Babiker , Maxel , Fred the Barber , Nohman , Totodile , FinalChaos , Kawasumi , Flutterz , Turnip Sensei 
    #Team Kaguya: Members, Dergonu , Nimbus, Gijimu, Greenshadow622 (- 1 life) , Eclipsed, Zebhra , Duyy , Jade
    __________________________________________________________________________________
     
     
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