[And as the votes come in, the lights go out, and the room is once again cloaked in that thickly spreading darkness that likely seems to only become heavier and more oppressive the more you learn about this place. The only light that permeates it is the dim, ambient backlighting glowing from behind the buttons on the individual podiums in the circle, and after a short while even that disappears, plunging the room into total pitch blackness for the briefest of moments.
And then the pit in the center of the room illuminates itself, the bright light pouring forth from it driving back the darkness in its stark white brilliance, and after everyone's eyes have adjusted to the shift in contrast it becomes obvious that Killia is no longer among you, his disappearance made all the more evident by the sudden presence of the now-familiar soft grinding noise emanating from the door far below Podium 28.
After a moment, Killia (and it is Killia, despite everything that's happened at this trial it very much is still Killia down in the pit) emerges from the area behind that door; he doesn't make his way to the center of the circle - that seems to be a mistake, walking to the center, the center is where you die, but at the same time the walls aren't much safer, either. What happened to Kyrie and Kira was enough to prove that, wasn't it?
The entity in the pit makes its entrance from two fronts this time - from above Podiums Nine and Fifteen; Fifteen is the more immediate threat, and Killia's first instinct is to move, to get away from it, his wings flaring out from his back in response to the adrenaline flow through his system.
He darts back toward the wall, jumps up and kicks off of it, and he glides.
It's only a temporary solution and he knows it, as soon as he's touched down in that area near Podium 27, but it's bought him some time to think, to get a better look at the arena and verify whether there really is nothing that can be done; the entity itself seems to be highly agitated today, possibly irritated by the sudden quickness of its target, possibly just not wanting to deal with Killia's relative unpredictability with regards to what he's capable of and the presence of Killidia complicating matters on that front. Either way, it seems to want to get this over with quickly; it wastes no time in spreading quickly towards Killia and attempting to grab at him with one of those long tendrils.
But Killia seems to realize that in order to grab, it does need to solidify at least somewhat; when he strikes at it, it's the sort of hit that's swift and hard with almost no followthrough, all the power in it put into the point of connection.
Bluntly put, he just straight-up punches the damn thing in one of the few reasonably small spots that might possibly affect it, and he's grimly pleased when it recoils just the slightest bit.
It's not a particularly good strategy, mind - it's one that's going to prolong the fight, surely, but it's not one that's going to end it; there's too much of the entity around for that. But the fact of the matter is that Killia isn't so much determined to win as he is to hold his own - he isn't a strategist or a tactician, but he can fight, and that's what matters, and he's not going to go down without at least putting in a decent showing.
So he strikes, and he strikes, and he manages to keep the thing off him well enough for several long, difficult seconds; the shadows in the pit withdraw a bit, seeming to regroup, before surging forward in an attempt to surround.
Killia shifts back, attempting to jump up and kick off the wall again, trying to put more space between him and it; however, that's not a trick that's going to work a second time - one of those tendrils arcs up immediately after he's in the air, poised to come down at him from above, while he can't change course- ]
Goodnight, Individualistic.
[The Wordsmith's voice sounds out as the darkness slams down on Killia's back; it's difficult to say whether it pierces him or not, the angle isn't good enough to see that, but either way it drives him down into the rest of the shadows below - they envelop him quickly, almost instantaneously, before flattening out against the ground and returning to the normal pattern of gently flowing against the floor.
There's a bit of a pause before the Wordsmith speaks again.]
That's all there is for you to do here today; you've done well.
ACCOUNTABILITY.
And then the pit in the center of the room illuminates itself, the bright light pouring forth from it driving back the darkness in its stark white brilliance, and after everyone's eyes have adjusted to the shift in contrast it becomes obvious that Killia is no longer among you, his disappearance made all the more evident by the sudden presence of the now-familiar soft grinding noise emanating from the door far below Podium 28.
After a moment, Killia (and it is Killia, despite everything that's happened at this trial it very much is still Killia down in the pit) emerges from the area behind that door; he doesn't make his way to the center of the circle - that seems to be a mistake, walking to the center, the center is where you die, but at the same time the walls aren't much safer, either. What happened to Kyrie and Kira was enough to prove that, wasn't it?
The entity in the pit makes its entrance from two fronts this time - from above Podiums Nine and Fifteen; Fifteen is the more immediate threat, and Killia's first instinct is to move, to get away from it, his wings flaring out from his back in response to the adrenaline flow through his system.
He darts back toward the wall, jumps up and kicks off of it, and he glides.
It's only a temporary solution and he knows it, as soon as he's touched down in that area near Podium 27, but it's bought him some time to think, to get a better look at the arena and verify whether there really is nothing that can be done; the entity itself seems to be highly agitated today, possibly irritated by the sudden quickness of its target, possibly just not wanting to deal with Killia's relative unpredictability with regards to what he's capable of and the presence of Killidia complicating matters on that front. Either way, it seems to want to get this over with quickly; it wastes no time in spreading quickly towards Killia and attempting to grab at him with one of those long tendrils.
But Killia seems to realize that in order to grab, it does need to solidify at least somewhat; when he strikes at it, it's the sort of hit that's swift and hard with almost no followthrough, all the power in it put into the point of connection.
Bluntly put, he just straight-up punches the damn thing in one of the few reasonably small spots that might possibly affect it, and he's grimly pleased when it recoils just the slightest bit.
It's not a particularly good strategy, mind - it's one that's going to prolong the fight, surely, but it's not one that's going to end it; there's too much of the entity around for that. But the fact of the matter is that Killia isn't so much determined to win as he is to hold his own - he isn't a strategist or a tactician, but he can fight, and that's what matters, and he's not going to go down without at least putting in a decent showing.
So he strikes, and he strikes, and he manages to keep the thing off him well enough for several long, difficult seconds; the shadows in the pit withdraw a bit, seeming to regroup, before surging forward in an attempt to surround.
Killia shifts back, attempting to jump up and kick off the wall again, trying to put more space between him and it; however, that's not a trick that's going to work a second time - one of those tendrils arcs up immediately after he's in the air, poised to come down at him from above, while he can't change course- ]
Goodnight, Individualistic.
[The Wordsmith's voice sounds out as the darkness slams down on Killia's back; it's difficult to say whether it pierces him or not, the angle isn't good enough to see that, but either way it drives him down into the rest of the shadows below - they envelop him quickly, almost instantaneously, before flattening out against the ground and returning to the normal pattern of gently flowing against the floor.
There's a bit of a pause before the Wordsmith speaks again.]
That's all there is for you to do here today; you've done well.