"Alright. Here we go! First fight of the second round!! Cole and Oleander versus Nyx and Jack!!"

L1MB0 snaps. The illusion goes up.

The two teams are on opposing sides of an open field in a rainy pine forest.

There is a single large rock in the empty, grassy space between them.

"FIGHT."

Oleander gets in a defensive position, readying his sword.

Nyx's sword appears in her hand. It hums and glows slightly.

Cole snaps as his pickaxe appears in his hand, getting into an offensive stance

Oleander runs at Nyx, attempting to slash across her chest.

Nyx just takes the hit. The blade skids across a rock-like surface with a few sparks. She raises her blade in the air as she seems to stare down Cole.

Raine watches attentively. He silently prays for them to avenge his loss to Nyx… Luna just wants to see Nyx lose.

The Oleanderfan wizard is shaking autistically in Candle's lap as it watches, Candle pets its head as she swings her legs. The Lunawizard is under Candle's hat though, also watching :]

Cole rushes forward and aims a stab at her chest. "BY THE POWER OF SATAN, THIS BITCH WACK!”

Oleander steps back, ready for an attack.

When the stab from Cole lands, stone snakes coil around the blade as Nyx grabs his wrist with a firm grip. She continues to stare him down from under the bandana.

Oleander slashes at the snakes swarming Cole.

Cole growls as he tries to rip his wrist free from her grasp and aim another strike at her chest. "Let go of me you fucking bitch!"

Both strikes only spark from hitting the snakes. Nyx's grip only tightens to an unnatural degree, strong enough to warp metal. There's a strong feeling of bad luck.

Oleander shifts uncomfortably and tries to slash at her legs.

Cole's wrist snaps as he snarls and growls as the wood on the pickaxe starts to creak and crack.

Nyx yanks Cole by the wrist, using the force of a car to throw him into a tree.

Snakes slide off of Nyx and start wrapping around Oleander’s legs, trying to climb up on him.

Oleander slashes at the snakes, trying to get them off.

Cole is thrown into a tree and he smashes into it. He snarls as he quickly gets to his feet and starts sprinting back over to Nyx, arcs starting to cover his body.

The snakes climbing Oleander only spark slightly at contact with the blade. More climb on, causing him to get weighed down by them. Nyx turns to face Cole head-on.

Oleander’s panicking a bit, his arms pinned to his sides. "Cole, I'm having trouble moving!" He exclaims.

"I'm working on it!" Cole yells back as a bolt of lightning flies from one of his paws, aimed at Nyx, as he aims a strike with his pickaxe at Nyx's leg.

The lightning strikes her and burns her clothing. She quickly lifts off the ground to avoid the pickaxe as her wings come to life and a halo can be seen over her head. The snakes tighten uncomfortably.

Oleander struggles as best he can, panicking more.

"Let go of him!" Cole's wings flap as he hovers at the same height as Nyx. He aims a strike at Nyx's neck.

Nyx's head detaches from her body but stayed suspended in the air. The sword glows brightly as she slashes the air in front of her. A lightning bolt similar to the one Cole made is shot at him from the blade.

Cole is hit with the bolt. It burns his fur and causes him to drop slightly in altitude for a second as he rises back up and aims a strike at Nyx's wing. "FUCK YOU!”

Long black jaws with thin needle-like teeth jut out from under the bandana like a shark, biting at Cole. The wing is hit as some water substituting for blood falls from Nyx.

Oleander struggles helplessly, getting more panicked by the second.

Raine raises an eyebrow. "Erm... what the heck!"

"HOW IS THIS ALLOWED?" Cole dashes backward, away from the bite, then forwards again. He aims a strike at the jaws.

Nyx’s jaws bite onto the blade as the teeth crackle and wrap around the blade.

Any electronics within ten feet of Nyx are attacked with relentless viruses, all blocking out senses and replacing vision with randomized colors.

"𝓓ɑ𝒎𝙣 𝐭𝓱𝖊 ᴄ𝑜|𝞎𝘀𝒕ｅ𝑟 𝕘е𝒕𝘵ⅈոƍ 𝒉𝕚𝙨 𐑈𝕙ꭵ𝘁 ɯ𝚛𝚎𝒄ｋ𝟈ｄ." Cerberus comments.

Cole growls and snarls, struggling to stay hovering in the same spot. "WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT?"

Oleander struggles from where he is being held. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?"

The jaws let go and retreat back under the bandana. Nyx turns to face Oleander as she gently lands on the rock. Her bow of light appears in her hands as she readies the bow with her sword. The bow currently aimed at the floor

Oleander struggles. "Let me go so we can fucking fight!"

The viruses attacking Cole become unbearable, making his wings lock up. He falls to the ground, his wings shattering upon impact with the ground.

Nyx quickly snaps the bow up, aiming for Oleander, and instantly lets go. The sword goes clean through his neck, severing his head from his body and the snakes fade into smoke. Oleander's head falls to the ground, his corpse going limp as it also collapses.

Oleander, a member of Branch House, Lock’s best friend and boyfriend, and friend to many, is dead.

Nyx lowers the bow. The viruses vanish.

Cole's eyes slowly open as soon as he looks over at Oleander, his eyes widening as he quickly gets to his feet and calls out, "CALL THE FUCKING FIGHT YOU DIPSHIT!" Tears run down Cole’s face as he sprints over to Oleander's body and kneels next to it, staring at the boys corpse, barely able to process what just happened.

Jack nearly chokes on a hotdog. "-uh oh"

A sensation that feels like pins and needles slowly begins to settle in the bodies of everyone in the stadium. A tall figure appears before Nyx.

Standing twelve feet tall is a thin, lanky, pale man dressed in a dark cloak embroidered with a constellation pattern. His face is a black void of nothing that stares down at Nyx, Cole, and Oleander. Covering its face is a black veil that hangs down from a black sun hat adorned with oleander flowers.

Black feathered wings stretch out behind the man, covered in vines of oleanders. Its arms hang unnaturally low, almost brushing the ground where Cole sits, Oleander laying in his arms.

Just looking at this thing, everyone can tell it's angry. It looks down to Oleander, its servant. Gone too soon. It picks up Oleander's body with one arm, and then his head with another. It stares at Nyx. Then it cranes its head to look at the others. Oleander's eyes peer out of the dark abyss where the man's face should be.

A headache is induced in everyone there as their vision flickers.

The man and Oleander are both gone, oleander flowers residing where they had been.

The symptoms quickly fade.

The crowd is silent.

For a moment, after The Man disappears, everything is still.

Then, the illusion drops, and Nyx has two Very Pissed Off angels flying toward her. One ready to cut her head off as she did to Oleander and the other seconds from tearing out her jugular with their jagged glass teeth.

And upon seeing this, L1MB0 acting more aggressive than anyone aside from Spider and Cole has ever seen, makes the crowd realize this is Real.

And now the crowd is losing their shit!!! Well, aside from the Wrath demons. Some are cheering, others are quiet, and others are trying to shut some of the others up.

The rest, though?

Yeah, they're trying to get the fuck out of there.

Nyx throws a peace sign as she disappears. Jack blinks. "What the hell was that?!?!?"

Luna stands her ground silent in respect for her friend.

Hinata, on the other hand, is freaking the fuck out but sticks next to Luna, trusting her movements.

Violet and Margaret are both in shock. Violet looks around thinking ‘Now what’

Roxy's form glitches green slightly as she stares.

Claire remains seated with a soft, unnoticeable smile on her face. Hands folded in her lap.

Raine remains staring off at where Oleander once was.

Candle blinks. The Oleanderfan wizard in Candle's lap stops in place, frozen as it immediately begins to tear up and quake. It makes a sound only Candle can hear, as she looks on in silence.

As for Cerberus, the left head's eyes blink rapidly as a shiver runs down their body, he's silent.

Harmonia’s frozen in shock.

Oleander's blood stains the arena where his corpse fell.

Lock is in shock.

L1MB0 and Uriel crash into each other. Uriel falls into the tar, and L1MB0 gets a claymore in their side. L1MB0 returns to their normal form, ripping out the claymore and throwing it at Uriel in a fit of rage.

"...Huh. That was... something. That's a big no-no. Absolutely a disqualification." Rham strokes his chin in thought.

"JUST A DISQUALIFICATION???" L1MB0 shouts louder than the chaos of people trying to flee. "NYX BROKE MY ONE RULE! NO MURDER! HE CAN'T COME BACK FROM THAT. HE'S DEAD. ESPECIALLY SINCE HE WAS A MINOR. HE'S NOT EVEN COMING BACK AS A DEMON!!! HE'S DEAD DEAD."

Rham looks at L1MB0, laughing nervously. "Woah, now. Calm down, pal. What do you expect me to do about that???"

"Oh, I don't know..? CALL OFF THE FUCKING TOURNAMENT?" An ear-piercing static momentarily deafens everyone as L1MB0 raises their voice, leaving their ears ringing.

"Huh? Wh-" Rham laughs. "No, you can't be serious. You think I'm stupid or something? Not happening."

Luna has passed the fuck out. Hinata watches over her.

Lock is frozen.

Violet is just staring at where the body was, confused about how quickly everything is happening, one moment there, the next moment gone.

Hinata is still completely confused as to what's happening. Like what was that tall man and why did he look so fucking cool??? Clearly, her priorities are straight.

Candle pets the wizard as it makes little whimpers and nuzzles against her torso, the glow of their eyes is gone for the moment.

Kade was more or less having a fucking panic attack, understandably so.

Roxy's left eye remains purple, while the right flickers to green. She's shaking. Form glitching. She looks as though she's not only in mental and emotional anguish, but physical as well. Anger. Pure, unbridled rage.

“That... wasn't on the script.”

“IS THAT ALL YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT RIGHT NOW JACKASS??? THE KID'S FUCKING DEAD, DUDE. HOLY SHIT.”

“Characters can be killed off. It's fine. Just some minor rewrites needed.”

“GOD. WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP??” Roxy's eyes both flicker green as she begins to cough.

"I'm VERY FUCKING SERIOUS, RHAM." L1MB0 yells.

"Oh, well, I am too! I have contracts to fulfill, Limbo. All it'd take is some shuffling around." Rham replies.

"I will make your species extinct." The prince barks back.

"Oh, boohoo!"

Violet holds her head in her hands, closing her eyes trying to go to a happy place, trying to block everything out. It’s not helping.

Luna eventually comes to. She still gets knocked out by super-loud sounds, but the recovery time is slowly getting better and better.

Hinata tells her what's been transpiring with that crocodile dude and the other guy and Luna's fist clench. Her eyes are glowing an even deeper blue than usual. She is pissed.

One of their hands covers Kade's face as he hyperventilates, trying to keep steady as their body twitches every so often. Cerberus doesn't react all too much, but he does seem to furrow his eyebrows while the right bares its fangs.

"So what then???" L1MB0 asks.

"We go on." Rham replies.

"Unless they leave." L1MB0 corrects.

"..." Rham groans. "Unless they leave."

L1MB0 looks at The Kiss.

Candle's already long gone.

Claire's smile grows wider as she sits calmly. "I'd like to continue."

Cody looks at Claire like she’s fucking insane.

"...A-Are you serious L1M? Oleander is fucking DEAD! And you want us to keep fighting???" Luna glares at Rham specifically.

Harmonia teleports over to Cerberus, trying to comfort Kade.

L1MB0's screen cracks, but he doesn't say anything.

Rham looks at Luna and speaks rather flatly. "Yeah."

"..." Hinata doesn't say a word.

Kade accepts the help, but he seems to breathe heavier nonetheless, whimpering in pain.

"𝘭'𝖬 𝚮𝖤ℜ𝜠 Ⲧ𝗢-" Cerberus’s right head snaps its attention to the middle, snapping its jaws. "𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝘾𝘼𝙉'𝙏 𝘽𝙀 𝙁𝙐𝘾𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙎𝙀𝙍𝙄𝙊𝙐𝙎???" The heads begin arguing with each other which DOESN'T seem to help Kade at all!

Luna is silent, waiting for everyone else's responses before adding her own. Tears drip from her eyes.

Harmonia slaps Cerberus’s right and middle heads to try and get them to shut up. "Go back to Kade form!"

Violet sees Claire smile at what just happened. Yeah, no. Violet’s had enough Violet teleports over to Claire and slaps her HARD. “Will you SHUT UP! Someone just DIED and you find this FUNNY?! You think you're a big shot and no one can touch you and that this is all just a big joke?! Well, it’s not. So Shut. The Fuck. Up.” Violet is pissed.

Claire starts laughing. Raine walks up behind Claire and Cody and they disappear in a puff of smoke. Violet hears a whisper: "Finish the job next time."

"Whoa." Hinata is impressed.

Both heads bark at Harmonia, then pause. "..𝙊𝙝. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙬. 𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩." "𝙅Ս𝕊𝝉 𝑊𝐀𝘐𝚃 Ｔ۱Ⳑ𝗟 Ｈ𝔼 Ϲᴀᒪ𝜧𝕊 𝐃𝒐𝗪𝑵."

Violet is still pissed but shaken at the whispered words. “Finish the job?! I want- don’t want to kill Claire. I just want Claire to learn a lesson…”

"Alright-" Harmonia sighs. "Then stop bickering." She goes back to Kades head, petting him and trying to calm him down.

Luna sends Violet a message via telepathy, {"Hey, everything alright? You seem a bit shaken up?"}

Kade leans against Harmonia.

Violet sends a message back to Luna, (”Um yea just Claire has gotten me shaken up. I’ll be fine.”)

{"Alright Violet. If you need anything though, Hinata and I are here for ya."} Hinata faces and nods towards Violet.

Lock stays quiet.

(”Alright.”) Violet looks to Hinata and nods back.

Harmonia looks to Limbo and Rham. "Cerb and I aren't fighting." She says, petting Kade softly.

Violet thinks for a moment… she needs to accept help and not push it away… She teleports over to Luna and Hinata. “Can I… can I have a hug?” Her eyes show some tears.

The two of them hug Violet. Perhaps, that's what all three of them needed. Luna is rather warm, and Hinata is soft. Kinda perfect.

Cerberus looks away with a huff. "Ꮤⅇ'𝑟𝟈 с𝑎𝓅𝑎𝒃𝕝𝓮. 𝗹𝗳 ռ𝚎е𝒅еᑯ." Kade sighs shakily.

Violet enjoys the group hug as she lets some tears fall… happy to see that Luna and Hinata care for her

While embraced in the hug, Hinata looks to Violet, "if you want to continue, it's up to you. I wouldn't mind another fight, but I also don't want to be rude."

Harmonia gives the main head a look.

The main head gives Harmonia a look.

“No… I don’t want to continue fighting… I can’t after that.” Violet replies.

Spider is still on L1MB0'S platform staring into space as they attempt to process what the hell just happened

Hinata nods and calls out to Rham. "We're done with this shitshow." They eventually release the hug.

Tar begins to seep through Cole’s skin as it bubbles and pops his bones shift and creak as he glares up at Rham. "ʏօʊ ǟʀɛ ǟ ֆɨƈӄ ʄʊƈӄɨռɢ ʍǟռ ʀɦǟʍ ɨ ɦօքɛ ʍʏ ʄǟռֆ ȶɛǟʀ ʏօʊ ȶօ ֆɦʀɛɖֆ ȶɦɛ ֆɛƈօռɖ ʏօʊ ɛӼɨȶ ȶɦɨֆ քʟǟƈɛ ʏօʊ ʄʊƈӄɨռɢ ʍօռɛʏ ɦʊռɢʀʏ ɢʀɛɛɖʏ ɮǟֆȶǟʀɖ.” Cole's height begins to increase. "ȶɦɛ օռʟʏ քɛʀֆօռ ɨ'ʟʟ ɮɛ ʄɨɢɦȶɨռɢ ɨʄ ǟռʏօռɛ ǟȶ ǟʟʟ ɨֆ ʄʊƈӄɨռɢ ʏօʊ.”

Luna finally speaks up, "I'm done Rham. I refuse to continue fighting in the wake of our friend dying!"

Violet nods in agreement.

Jack has made his way over to Lock. He looks worried as he says a few things to her quietly. Lock doesn't respond as Jack sighs.

L1MB0 makes an "I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO" gesture towards Rham.

Rham groans. "Fine, then. The tournament's over."

"Thanks, Jackass." L1MB0 snaps and everyone is returned to their respective homes.