Cyber Fair: The Mind is a Battlefield (Escape from Club Apophis, 35)

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STORYLINE: The Jae Won University Stadium burned like a crown of thorns. Rows of plastic seats melted into crooked black smiles, and the scoreboard flickered above them, its numbers dissolving into meaningless static. Ash drifted through the dead wind like red snow.

Jihoon knelt in the dirt of the pitcher’s mound, his breath coming in thin, burning pulls.

Across the diamond, Lathandro twirled a charred baseball bat slowly in one hand. Casual. Patient. Like a man warming up before a game already won. He looked flawless in his white uniform, shoes clean, collar crisp, entirely untouched by the smoke and ruin.

"Do you hear them?" Lathandro asked lightly, his voice carrying over the crackle of the flames.

Voices echoed faintly through the smoke. Muffled. Distant. Real. Jihoon lifted his head. The sky above the dreamscape trembled.

"They’re worried," Lathandro said, a cruel smirk touching his perfect lips. "How sweet."

The scent of clove.

It drifted through the acrid smoke, ancient and entirely out of place.

Jihoon looked towards the scent.

Suddenly, the bat came down. Crack.

Light exploded behind Jihoon’s eyes. He collapsed into the dirt, tasting copper and ash.

"You don't deserve your best friends. You didn't even tell them your birthday," Lathandro continued conversationally, stepping over him. "But I understand."

Another swing. Crack.

"You were born under a bad star, the asteroid Apophis," Lathandro whispered, crouching beside him. "An ill omen. The day that almost ended the world. Imagine how they’d react if they knew you were always cursed."

The crack rang in Jihoon's skull.

"You always knew something was wrong with you. Too quiet. Too strange. Too afraid to exist properly. You watched life from the bleachers while better people played the game." He spread his arms to the burning stadium. "But me? I am the player."

The glitching scoreboard above the stadium spasmed back to life, letters crawling through static until they held in place.

HITS

AWAY: SOMEBODY: 347

HOME: NOBODY: 0

Lathandro glanced up at the board and smiled faintly. “Scorekeeping matters.”

Suddenly, the ground convulsed. A violent earthquake ripped through the dreamscape, collapsing a section of the bleachers. Jihoon’s real body was being moved.

Through the fissures in the sky, a voice bled through. Deep, broken, and wet.

Kyle.

“He didn’t want this! Look at him! Jihoon never wanted to be a monster!” Kyle’s voice cracked with a guilt so profound it made the ground in the dreamscape shudder. Kyle, the guy who treated joy like a personal insult, was weeping for him.

Jihoon flinched and closed his eyes.

"Oh?" Lathandro murmured, his eyes narrowing. He raised the bat. "Still clinging to them? Pathetic. Just forget them already."

Before the bat could fall, a new voice sliced through the haze, cold and sharp with fury. He knew that voice. The nurse from the hospital.

“You think MasterGin forced this upon him?” Her voice sneered from the waking world. “You think your precious friend is a victim? Look at the footage, you ignorant children. He begged for it.”

The melting jumbo screen flickered violently. Then a new image forced itself across the burning pixels. It was shaky halophone footage from inside the velvet madness of Club Apophis.

Jihoon saw his own face, his old, unremarkable face, looking up at the towering silhouette of MasterGin.

Something inside Jihoon recoiled. The words felt familiar. Like overhearing himself through a wall.

“I’m tired of being a nobody. Tired of being weak. I can't even tell the girl I like how I feel,” his old self on the screen whispered, his voice trembling with raw, desperate hunger. “I don’t want to be small anymore....”

"Forget it!" Lathandro roared, his composure snapping. He brought the bat down viciously. "Forget! Let it go! I am the one keeping us alive! Your life ended the moment you walked into Club Apophis. Mine is just beginning!"

The bat came down again. Crack.

The scoreboard clicked.

HITS: 348

Above them, the real world was descending into chaos.

“He's coming. Enforcers in the corridor,” Paine’s voice snapped. “Here. Take this. Go.”

Jihoon's heart sank. But then, a hand reached through the sensory void. It was warm. Small. Real. He felt it.

Minjo’s voice broke through the static, closer than the rest. “Jihoon.”

Her hand tightened around his. “I thought sunscreen would be enough.” The words trembled, then hardened.

For a moment she said nothing. The silence carried everything she couldn’t.

“I will not fail you again.” Her grip tightened. “I don’t care what they are. Vampires. Cults. Gods.”

A breath against his cheek. “I watched you burn. Your arms on fire reaching to me, begging me to save you. So that's what I'll do. This is not over.” A pause. “Do you hear me?”

He felt the whisper of her lips against his cheek. Warm. Human. Alive.

Her touch was real. A kiss.

A jolt of pure, living electricity shot through his paralyzed limbs.

"Forget her!" Lathandro roared, swinging the bat for a final, memory-erasing blow.

Jihoon moved.

He didn't dodge. He reached up and caught the barrel of the bat, his bare, bloody hands stopping the wood cold.

Lathandro's grip faltered. Something crossed his perfect face that had no name in his vocabulary. The firelight flickered across their mirrored faces. One majestic, one bruised and bleeding.

"I kept you alive," Lathandro hissed.

Jihoon tightened his grip on the wood, staggering to his feet. "I know," he rasped, looking his shadow dead in the eye. "But you’re not all I am."

Jihoon twisted. The bat tore free from Lathandro’s grip. With a snarl of all his pent-up rage, he swung it back and cracked it across Lathandro's flawless jaw.

The scoreboard shrieked with feedback. The team names scrambled like a broken machine, then went dark.

The beautiful boy spun and collapsed into the ash. Knocked out cold.

The moment Lathandro fell, the inferno shattered like glass. The nightmare purgatory of Jihoon’s death dissolved, replaced instantly by the familiar, damp neon of the alleyway outside his old dorm. A mechanical bark echoed through the brick corridor. Scrappy 2 bounded from the shadows, tail wagging.

Jihoon dropped the bat, his chest heaving. He screamed at the sky, "Minjo! I'm here!"

But the voices were fading. The heavy, rhythmic clicking of MasterGin’s heels approached in the real world. His friends were gone. They had fled. But he was still unconscious in the heart of Monstrum.

The alley lights suddenly dimmed. Neon signs flickered. A low hum vibrated in the ground.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The slow, deliberate sound of applause drifted from the shadows of the alleyway.

Jihoon spun around.

A towering silhouette stepped into the dim light, draped in black, his golden dreadlocks arranged like a Pharaoh’s nemes. The air immediately chilled, smelling of ancient stone and clove cigarettes.

The Ruler of the Night looked down at Lathandro's unconscious body, then up to Jihoon, his gold eyes bright with something that might have been amusement if amusement could also be a threat.

"I have watched this infestation try to break you," the Ruler said, his voice a resonant baritone that vibrated in Jihoon's chest. "You have proven yourself. I did not expect such resilience from a human. It is fortunate your rescuers forced my Lucien to move you away from that cursed energy."

Jihoon backed up, his hands trembling. "Who are you?"

The ancient vampire took a slow drag from his cigarette, the embers flaring orange in the dark.

"I am known by many titles," he purred smoothly. "But you may think of me as the Instrument of Order. My servant, the Instrument of Chaos, has laid a claim on your flesh, but I see you are not entirely his." The Ruler extended a massive, armored hand toward Jihoon. "Let us speak of a mutually beneficial arrangement. A deal to balance the scales."

Jihoon looked at the extended hand, then at Scrappy sitting patient in the neon dark, then back at the oldest person he had ever seen.



When I saw STOP's robot dog, thought I had gone to heaven for a moment. Its perfect. And perfect for for this story as the dream symbol of Minjo, guarding poor Jihoon. Lovely. Just lovely. ... Blaze is his real name, and he comes in different color selections. You just wear him, and he's fully animated with cool sci-fi noises. The Hud can change its LED glow color. He's a good boy.   ....From Diaboli Designs is Voidcore boots. Like all DD boots, it comes with a hud full of texture options and texture animations. It's so fun. I went with a Lime Green ad Black look to match the jacket.   ...Savage's Yuri Jacket has backpack built in the back.  The front can your pick from several colors, and the back and backpack are black.   ...Matching the lime theme is the T-AB headphones by Lavu.  You can get in several colors, and then modify is even more with a hud. The headphones are unrigged and mod, so you can get a perfect fit.   ... In the background, I used the mod version of ZEROICHI's KABUKI X Backdrop. Its detailed L shaped set with built in lights and PBR textures. With the mod version you can tint, or move pieces around. It includes stand alone props bottles, and an option without built in lighting.   ...And a subtle detail in the back, is the EC3D neon sign of the Dog which I combined with the ZEROICHI's Love sign.  ... Just an another little nod to our Snow White (Jihoon) finally getting that kiss from his love (Minjo) that awakens, not his body, but his agency. -- My own cyber twist to the famous fairytale. 

On him, Yoon Jihoon:

Jacket: Savage - Yuri Jacket, Legacy M [mesh](Cyber Fair)(250L)

Shoes: Diaboli Design - Voidcore Boots, Legacy M [mesh](Cyber Fair)(999L)

Pet: STOP - Blaze-Yellow [mesh](Cyber Fair)(1500L)

Heaphones: Lavu - T-AB, black heaphone [mesh](Cyber Fair)(239L) 

Rings: MANDALA - Legacy(M)_Ring []Sinra Rings season-3-HD [mesh]

Baseball Bat: Top Shed Model_Baseball Bat [mesh]

Hair: Raven Bell - Nova Hair Short w Bangs ~Shimmer~ [mesh]

Pants: AVEC TOI Kai Pants, Turmoil, LegacyM [mesh](595L)

Hairbase: Volkstone - Percy Hairbase / Dark Black [BOM]

Tattoo: 𝐒𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐄 - [p] the damned - bloody mouth [BOM]

Eye makeup: maledictus -  Lacrimosa - Blood [BOM] [BOM]

Tattoo: Hexed -  Lonely Soul Blood Mouth [BOM]

Tattoo: Broadwing - Mouth Wound - Fresh Bloody [BOM]
Skin: MUDSKIN - Hajimu - Scarface - Brow - WINTER [BOM]

Eyes: IKON - Perspective Eyes - Oxidation [BOM]

Head, bloody tattoos: LeLUTKA - Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Pose: momomuller 3M_sc0_m_3 (40L)

Setting:

Skybox: ZEROICHI - KABUKI X Backdrop Ambientlight [mesh](Cyber Fair)(580L)

Neon sign: EC3D - Cyber Dog Static [mesh](Cyber Fair)(200L)

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:

 

Cyber Fair: DJ Romance (Escape from Club Apophis, 16)

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STORYLINE: Kyra's body, an unresponsive mannequin, sped on rollerblades toward its own destruction.

A sickening CRASH tore a hole in the Forbidden Zone's silence. The shriek of tortured metal and the sharp snap of breaking carbon fiber echoed through abandoned alleys and off decaying buildings. Agony lanced through her leg; a rusted rebar had torn through her shell, impaling her lower leg. She tried once more to reboot her body, but it was hopeless. The pungent reek of her leaking cybernetic fluids filled the air. Then, cutting through the oil and rust, came a cologne so sweet it was rotten.

A plume of shimmering pink smoke swirled before Kyra, twisting into shapes that almost resembled hearts before collapsing in like an unholy tornado. From its folds, a figure emerged with heavy mecha wings beating the air, and armor humming with an electric glow. He hovered just off the ground, demonic and dazzling, a cupid remade in infernal metal. Her optics fuzzed, but the figure was still there. He had simply materialized from thin air. Panic surged, but her body stayed stubbornly locked. She was a doll at the mercy of a predator in no hurry.

His feral eyes gleamed with amusement as he lightly touched down, the corners of his lips curving into a wicked leer. He tilted his head, long heart-shaped bangs swaying, and examined her from head to toe as if she were a sculpture in a museum.

Then as if he were granting her a small mercy, his massive wings folded down with origami grace, leaving only cyber demon horns glowing faintly and a matching tail that swished behind him. He pressed a hand to his heart, like her biography had been whispered into his ear, and began to sing a soft, honeyed melody:

     Poor broken star, with wires and steel...

Kyra's mouth filled with the metallic taste of shame. Yet, in betrayal, her pulse surged, circuits thrumming with heat. The shame curled inward, twining with something she hadn't let herself feel in years: the dangerous thrill of being noticed by eyes completely enthralled by her.

     What would you trade to move and feel,
     shed the ache that cold plates seal

Her pulse tripped. She knew that voice, that face,... not from the street, not from school, but from the shrine of her childhood. A poster on her wall, the one she used to whisper secrets to in the dark. Now that very same idol—the charming, handsome figure known as Saja Romance, leaned close. He was no longer flat paper but living breath warm against her shell, naming the ache she thought no one could see. He looked exactly the same as he did on the poster all those years ago, save for a few cybernetic enhancements that added to his dangerous allure.

He mimicked her awkward impaled pose, a grotesque mirror. Then with a lazy grace, his body flowed into a dramatic idol pose, as if to say, "This could be you." He was a master of performance.

She couldn't look away as he began to dance. She was riveted. A desperate need raced through her mind to replicate the choreography, to show him she could keep pace. Her body-memory yearned to answer his song with movement, but her limbs remained stone.

     You’re a beautiful machine, and so fragile.
     Trust me I know the pain behind the smile.
     I can give you forever, a perfect final bow.
     Just give me the part you’re dying to lose now.

His words burrowed. She was locked inside what appeared to be a perfect mechanical body, the best she could afford on the black market. But in truth, it was painful and flawed. Now it was an immobile burden weighing her down. She was useless. A living person trapped in a shell. The word "forever" echoed in her mind. Even in this sorry state, to him she was lovable, beautiful. He understood the pain she carefully hid.

Her lips parted, a half-protest, half-prayer, the ghost of a single word beginning to form, ...yes.

The idol's hungry gaze stayed locked to hers. His long fingers slid under the edge of her helmet, lifting it as if its airtight seals were nothing, his touch finding her cheek.

Heat bloomed under his fingertips, intimate and invasive, a sear that spread through every wire and plate as though he had pressed his mouth to her skin and breathed fire into her veins. Circuits that had been shrieking with pain fell silent, lulled, as if their suffering had simply… obeyed his command.

Time fractured into stillness as his mask slipped. The smirk drained away, and those molten-gold eyes dimmed into a warm, human brown, searching hers with a naked urgency he never showed on stage. In that instant, Kyra saw not a demon, not an idol, but a soul caught in its own cage of performance—just as she was caught in steel. The recognition pierced deeper than the rebar in her leg: his prison was hers, reflected back at her. In his gaze, she saw a terrible, familiar pain, the kind that begged not to be seen. And then the mask returned, gold light reigniting as his attention snapped away. The moment was gone, but its truth clung to her like a scar that hadn’t yet formed.

Headlights slashed the fog behind them as an EV skidded to a stop at the Forbidden Zone’s border. Lisa’s frantic voice cracked through the signal rot. "Kyra! I see you! I'm coming!" 

From deeper in the Zone, the gruff voice of Kyle Baek called out: “Hey! Hey, you—stop! Don’t come in here, it’s dangerous!”

She felt the metallic click of something fastening to her cheek, a wafer-thin object locking in place with cold magnetic weight. It pulsed faintly, the weight of a promise. "Such perfect form, even when you're broken. You must have been the best," Romance whispered low, lips brushing against her nano skin.

"Get away from her, you freak!" Kyle roared.

The ghostly idol glanced behind him in surprise just as a thrown rock passed through him, leaving a temporary swirl of pink fog. His attention quickly returned to her. "Until the next performance. Think about it, lovely machine." His warm touch withdrew, and the impossible relief it offered vanished instantly. A cold sting raced down her circuits, the soothing effect gone, building into a cascading failure. His words clung to her like a virus corrupting her core. "I'll be waiting." A promise she feared she might secretly want.

Digital narcolepsy. Full stop. No sight, no sound, no feel. Then, mercifully, the reboot took. The spell shattered like glass. Kyra let out a strange, glitching laugh, the joke ripping her from the terror. Did he just save me—or mock me?

When her vision flickered back, the world was smeared. She had no idea how much time had passed. Sound came to her like static, voices warped and distant. She saw Lisa’s face close to hers, panicked, shouting. Kyle’s mouth moved in some sharp retort, his hands rough as he lugged her heavy body across the perimeter of the Zone. Her severed limb was spraying sparks and leaking an inky black trail of fluid.

But she barely registered what was happening around her. Their quarrel and her injury were a blur, their words meaningless shapes. What cut sharp was elsewhere: the phantom touch still lingered on her cheek, and—out there in the gloom—his eyes, radiant, amused. Watching her. Then they blinked out, dissolving into the Zone’s haze.

Heat still ghosted on her cheek where his hand had been. She reached up, expecting a scar, but her fingers struck metal: a wafer-thin chip clinging to her skin, pulsing faintly. The symbol burned on its face: a heart coiled by a cobra on a vinyl record. A key. A pass. An invitation she hadn’t asked for, yet suddenly ached to follow.

Romance, of Kpop Demon Hunters, returns in Cybernetic Devilishness! The was a big chapter was pretty intense, but on with the details of cool stuff from Cyber Fair.   ...Giving Romance a cyber devil makeover are the Darconic Horns and Tail by Hallow. Both have texture hud options, the horns can edited for position and size, and the tail is animated Bento. Just touch it to pick a pose or play animated overrider.   ...Every Demonic Cyber Cupid is gonna need some wings, and Nebur Cyborg delivers with the Mech Wings Prototype! These wings have clever animations, the shards move up and down and wiggle, as well the wing flap. Plus, you can fold it down into just back spine spikes. These are awesome and original!   ...Romance is a DJ in Forbidden Zone, and he wears the Zeroichi C heaphones. They are adjustable for the perfect fit from earmuff, and head straps. While by the NK Store are the gorgeously made Sosumi Eighty-Two Dj set turntables. Touch the record to start its spin. Both headphones and DJ turntables you can buy in a color theme.   ... I did something a little tricky for Romance's hand. I used the R2 Fashion R2LX Yakumo Arm made for Lara X on Legacy Male. It totally fits, however there is one issue, the thumb's bones are slightly off. To fix that I used a hand pose that hold the thumb straight. Handy trick.   ...The outdoor setting for the Street Party created with the Zeroichi G Shelter Backdrop, the Neon signs by EC3D. I used the Mod version of the Shelter to change up the colors. For the lighting, I used the Midwest Streetlamp which has a fusion of Asia, Victorian, and Cyberpunk. It was mod, so I also edited it for color theme. Stay Awake indeed.   ....Bonus: to create that iconic cyberpunk feel of wet pavement I used the cobblestone PBR by JU PBR Materials and tinted it black.   .... Next post, if all goes well, will have the theme "Game Night." Please look forward to it!

On him, DJ Romance:
Horns: Hollow Draconic Horns [mesh](CyberFair)(350L)

Tail: Hollow Draconic Tail, V2  [mesh](CyberFair)(500L)

Hands: R2 Fashion R2LX Yakumo Arm1, Silver, Lara X [mesh](CyberFair)(188L)

Wings: Nebur Cyborg Mech Wings Prototype, Male, pink [mesh](CyberFair)(399L)

Headphones: ZEROICHI C headphone Silver [mesh](CyberFair)(240L)

Hair: Dura B137 Light [mesh]

Coat: ARCHIVEFACTION HURRICANE Trench Coat_Black [mesh]

Pants: AVEC TOI Kai Pants, Turmoil, LegacyM [mesh](595L)

Boots: Nebur Cyborg Taktik Boots / Legacy Male [mesh]

Bodysuit: Bas de Laura Store Laura's Black Sheer Bodystocking with Long Sleeves [BOM](150L)

Hat: Dope+Mercy Saja Gat, Sheer [mesh](Gift)

Top: KIKI KAIKAI ..KK.. short length jacket, LegacyM, Black Semitransparent [mesh]

Eyes: Poetic Colors classic gen4 - oriental pearl [mesh] (150L)

Head, piercings: LeLUTKA Kane Evolution [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Pose: Poseidon  Flight 9 (with firestorm poser edit)

Setting:

DJ Turn tables: NK Store [NK*] Sosumi Eighty-Two Set, Black, 7LI [mesh](CyberFair)(500L)

Sign: EC3D Kanji Love W Backplate Static [mesh](CyberFair)(250L)

Sign: EC3D After Dark [mesh](CyberFair)(250L)

Street Light: Midwest Sentient Street Light, Black 02 [PBR] [mesh](CyberFair)(299L)

Set: ZEROICHI* G SHELTER Backdrop (MOD) [mesh](CyberFair)(540L)

Sign: HIDEKI LIVE MUSIC SIGN, gacha [mesh]

Sign: EC3D Hearts Static [mesh]

Microphone: Infinite Karaogay Microphone [mesh]

Table: Rumah Kita Vision Collection - Desk, Chair & Lamp [mesh](50L)

Table Top: HILTED Xero Collection, Table [mesh]

Set: ANTINATURAL[+] Post-Human / Meeting Point, gacha [mesh]

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky