Temple of Ranma's Sailor Senshi Seifuku

"Walk into our ruin you mean." Saitou murmured softly to himself.

The goodly 'king' to be smiled and motioned to his gathered guests. "And now, my friends, please continue to partake of the feast I have prepared. The food is fresh..." His words broke off when the very air began to hum. A lightning storm seeming to form, causing the whole world to seem insane. Static beginning to pop around everyone, hair standing on end and skin tingling. It was swift becoming uncomfortable in this place, but no one dared move. It was almost impossible to tell what was happening. Some nature of spell was being spun.

High toward the roof a boiling mass of clouds gathered, generated from nowhere. They rumbled with thunder, threatening a potential explosion of lethal energy.

The writhing mass finally pulled into a knot, a form took shape.

People screamed in horror as a twisted visage of the late king appeared before them. A phantom of the past, a nightmare given form out of the land of the dead.

The left hand reached out, and a dark bolt of energy snarled out striking the handle of the sword imbedded in the wall. The blade shot from its resting place and came into that waiting hand. For the first time in ten years, Fafnir was unleashed. The weapon was quickly shown to be made of some material other than iron or bronze. The blade was black as obsidian or onxy, with a perfect mirror shine to it. White lines of an an archaic language lost to scholars etched a highly ornate pattern up the length, spellforms traced by a divine hand. The aura on the thing was both calm and malevolent. Every corner of the hall felt the pain it cast off.

The clouds formed the spectre ignored all else only paying attention to Darion. It never spoke. Instead it only twisted the blade, angling it so that the man's face was reflected within. According to rumors circulating about the weapon, those who looked upon their image within the sword looked upon the evil's in their own hearts. In the infinite of the mind, they wre subjected to the taint on their souls. Whoever looked within was doomed to die by the blade.

"No!" Darion screamed in horror, unable to look away. The ghost suddenly dove, meaning to pierce Darion with the sword. Somehow the man rolled away in time as the blade struck the seat of the throne. With no resistance at all, the enchanted sword slid through the fibers.

Darion came up shivering, body completely locked in fear. The ghost itself vanished, the clouds making up its body exploding into so much vapor. In its place, on the seatback, black flames burned. Written in flaming Elvish.

None but the true heir shall ever take this throne

Raisho's gaze never left the throne even when the phantom had appeared, his face remaining stoic. "I must say, Lord Darion sure knows how to put on a show, and it is becoming more apparent that the true heir must be found."

Tavi sighed as he irritatedly rubbed his forehead with one hand. "I take back everything I said; he's just an idiot." Then he shrugged, "Regardless, I think it safer to say it's time someone conquered this country. It's far more feasible and could result in a much stronger administration then one formed by drunks who don't know anything but how to party.

Aside from that, the only thing I can see here is a rush to find the 'true' heir and use him as a puppet, unless the whole fiasco was created by a spell instead of a ghost."

"If it is a spell I'd like to meet the one to cast it just to congratulate them on the timing." Saitou looked at Tavi."Think anyone here will be able to find the true heir?" He asked.

Tavi shrugged. "Of course they'd be waiting for this moment. It would be pointless to do it at any other time. There have to be at least half a dozen people in the audience, most likely far more, who could create such an illusion and move a sword telekinetically. The only other effect was causing psychological damage to that idiot."

The 13 year old professor smirked. "I could create a method to make an exact spell like that in a few hours if I wanted to do so. The only part of it that would make it remotely difficult is making it so it isn't obvious that it was just a spell to anyone whose already seen everything."

Tavi yawned lazily, "As for finding the heir, well, that would require work. Most of those in attendance with the resources to find someone would never lift a hand to go do it. No, what will happen is someone here, or someone who hears about this will pay someone to find the heir through whatever means and then use said heir to their own ends."

Brianna looks over the feast keeping her expression of that of a sweet smile as to not throw them of her thoughts at the moment. she says a quick prayer to her god and eats a light dinner.

There was a lull, people still in stunned silence for the moment. There was no action on the part of anyone, until a thunderclap shook the entire hall. As if the earth itself was snarling its rage, the whole building began to rattle and quake, ornaments falling from the roof, tables flipping, the whole world gone mad. People in the hall went mad in panic, going for the doors, screaming in terror. Many close to Cyille turned to her, falling to their knees and crying.

"Holiness, please, beseech the gods for mercy!"

Whether flattering or irritating to the woman, only she would know.

Many flocked to Pallan as well, who took charge of the situation only a moment later.

"QUIET!" His voice boomed over everything, amplified by magic. As if by his command, the quake stopped at once. Everything stilling.

The doctor continued, his aura filling the room in its entirity, pressing a sense of calm or awe in each person. "Return to your homes, quickly, and rest. This evening is now closed. Go, go, orderly and pray."

They began to obey, for reasons not entirely understood by them. One by one filing out of the hall, emptying it.

Through this all, Darion remained horror stricken, staring at the chared words burned into what would have been his throne, and the looming blade meant to claim his life.

A low, slow bit of applause came from Raisho as the last few people that were going to go scurried out. "Lord Darion, you sure know how to throw a party..." A serious look made its way onto the blind monk's face. "But it seems like you may not be the right one for the job after all."

Tavi smiled brightly. "Well, at least we get out of here quicker then anticipated." The dimunitive mage piled more food onto his plate and continued to eat, showing no signs whatsoever of leaving.

"Wouldn't the first issue be to go help our wannabe dictator though? He is after all the ruler of our country at the moment; whether because of his idiocy or despite it I haven't the faintest clue."

Tavi absentmindedly took a large bite out of his chicken.

"Shame though, I was hoping we'd have a good riot and cut down on the number of idiots in the population."

Brianna just nods at the goings on, "Hoped it wouldn't happen but expected it none the less," she says going very sage like, "The Judgement of Judicca is swift and stern."

That was better entertainment than I could have hoped for, thought Rikolet as she sipped her wine while waiting for the mad press of bodies to exit the room.

Walking calmly to the exit (since the earthquake appeared to have ended) she overheard the blind seeming monk speak.

Raisho the blind monk wrote:"Lord Darion, you sure know how to throw a party...""But it seems like you may not be the right one for the job after all."

She stopped to speak to the monk. "You might want to leave now," she softly suggested, brushing some dust off her sapphire dress. "In the state he's in now he may decide to take offense and have you killed in an effort to save some face. Assuming he heard you through his terror, of course."

Shadell wrote:"Wouldn't the first issue be to go help our wannabe dictator though? He is after all the ruler of our country at the moment; whether because of his idiocy or despite it I haven't the faintest clue."

"That he needs help I agree with. Which part of him do you want to help first?" Saitou replied.

Pallan shook his head and stormed over to the fallen man who's countenance did not break through the entire set of affairs. If he heard any words spoken by those few who remained, they did not register on Darion's face, and the legendary doctor ignored them. While simplistic, the churgeon applied the most direct means of psychological treatment available to the man so gripped with fear. The smack of flesh resounded through the entire hall, echoing back with quite a bit of reverberation.

Pallan had smacked their host solidly across the cheek, red handprint still left behind from the impact. Silence reigned a moment before Darion came back to his wits, and stared furious at the doctor.

"Oh pull in your pride and act a man, the apparition is gone, and you still sit here in horror waiting for your women to come hide you in their skirts. Your bid for power is broken, oh King how you will salvage your credibility from this debacle I am most interested in seeing."

Darion huffed, pulling himself to his feet and glared at the younger fellow. The good doctor did nothing but look back with an aloof expression that showed nothing of his inner thoughts, betrayed not a whisper of what flowed through that calculating mind.

Finally, Darion broke off, and turned to the others in the room, frowning. He spoke quickly, seeming to gather his wits much quicker than would be possible, given how he almost soiled himself not a moment earlier.

"Obviously this is a conspiracy posed by those rebels in the South. Lord F'ren and his group of cohorts. They've been plotting against me, and our late king for decades. I need prove, that will be all I need to restore things to their proper order.

"Those bastards will likely begin to move now, thinking unity in the city is broken. You lot" His hand swept the little gathering. "How would you like a chance to make some gold?"

"Depends on what you what you want in exchange for the gold." Saitou replied.