Cyber Fair: The Age of Apophis, part 2 (Escape from Club Apophis, 56)

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STORYLINE: Forbidden Zone border. 1 pm.

For one brief moment, the Ruler of the Night believed he had won. The boy, Jihoon, was finally his fledgling. MasterGin's centuries-long plot was completely dismantled. Order had claimed the board.

"Cancel the ceremony," he said, savoring the words.

The robotic lioness’s heavy titanium tail stopped its rhythmic swaying. Its synthetic optic lenses suddenly whirred, expanding into wide, black rings.

"But, my King, the nobles from all around the world are already arriving."

The Ruler paid the beast no mind. He activated an archived hologram on his wrist display. Lucien Ginerva, the man the world knew as MasterGin, was draped across his shoulder in a candid nightclub shot. Clad in a plunging gold chainmail dress that clung to his pale frame like liquid metal, Lucien looked breathtaking, scandalous, and entirely in his element. His head was thrown back in a wicked, limelight-stealing laugh. "I am sorry, my dearest friend,” the Ruler murmured to the projection. "Your machinations were impressive. But Order will always claim the board.” He pressed a gloved finger to his lips, then traced the glowing contour of Lucien's cheek with a tenderness he showed no living creature. "Our game will continue another thousand years."

He leaned back against the alley wall, lost in thought.

Suddenly the air changed, as if a cloud passed over the sun. The temperature plummeted ten degrees in a single heartbeat. Automated streetlights along the avenue flickered to life.

The lioness froze. Its metal ears rose. It's retinal HUDs flickered across its optical sensors as it looked toward the sky.

"WARNING. Photonic Decay Detected."

The sun sat squarely overhead, but the light turned a sickly, bruised gray.

“Cause?” The Ruler scanned the horizon.

"Solar output remains at one hundred percent," the lioness stated, its voice carrying an unsettling micro-second of latency. "Surface illumination in this sector has dropped to twelve percent. Cause undefined."

Shadows stretched across the concrete like spilled ink, swallowing the midday glare. His ocular implants auto-compensated, cranking brightness to maximum, but the rising dark simply absorbed the artificial light.

A sharp ping rattled his audio receiver.

"Priority Alert," the AI interrupted from the wrist display. The hologram shifted into a tactical map. A heavy strike hovercopter had just crossed into Korean airspace.

The Ruler zoomed in on the optic feed. The heavily armed UN gunship swept low over the coast. Emblazoned across the black hull were the stark white letters UN beneath the logo of the black widow spider.

Maximilian. His arch enemy.

The Ruler tapped his console, routing a direct, encrypted frequency straight to the White House. A veto from the US in the UN could scuttle any resolution. A single vote from Washington would force Maximilian to retreat.

The line rang. Busy signal.

He redialed immediately, overriding security protocols.

A synthesized voice chimed in his ear. "We're sorry. The number you have reached is no longer in service."

The Ruler froze, his hand hovering above the glowing interface. The line disconnected. He didn’t ask the AI for an explanation. He already knew. This was Lucien’s fault. The idiot had insulted the leader of the free world. His half-hearted apology had lead to their undoing.

High above, the sunlight faded further. A bitter chill swept across the alleyway.

He removed his glove and exposed his bare hand to the sky. He felt no burning. No blistering heat. The daylight had lost its teeth. Soon, the creatures of the night would discover the truth.

Chaos was winning.

The screen of his wrist device glitched, resolving into the static logo of Monstrum, a sigil designed by Lucien himself.

The Ruler stared at the emblem of the serpent swallowing the sun. For the first time in a thousand years, he felt something cold move through his chest. He had greatly underestimated Lucian.

"Your orders, my King?"

The Ruler bolted toward the hovercar, clearing the armored door in a single leap.

"Get Lucien on the line now! Mobilize every division! Seal the northern gates!" he roared into his comms, slamming the throttle to maximum. "And delay the cancellation of the ceremony. Tell no one. We need all the incoming nobility for the war."

The engine screamed to life, tearing out of the alley and plunging into the dimming streets of the Forbidden Zone.

At noon, the world was drowning in shadow. The serpent had swallowed the sun. The Age of Apophis had arrived.

On him, MasterGin:

Outfit: MASON - SINTETIC BODY - LARAX [mesh](CyberFair)

Boots: ANTAYA - Boots "Mora" LaraX[mesh](CyberFair)

Tattoo: ARANA - Sci Arms  -Arms Example 2K [BOM]

Nails: AsteroidBox - Simple Nails - LaraX[mesh]

Collar: Cruel Sulfur Gorget, Legacy M [mesh]

Hair: bonbon - tame hair, naturals [mesh]

Eyes: S0NG - Vampy, Old Ice Eye [BOM]

Skin: Skin Arcana - Maverick, FAIR [BOM]

Skin: Pink Fuel - [PF] <Porcelain> Boi/Athletic [BOM]

Head: LeLUTKA - CAMDEN 4.0 [mesh]

Body: Maitreya - Mesh Body LaraX [mesh]
Body mod: Maitreya - Mesh Body - LaraX FlatChest Add-on [mesh]

Pose: piXit - Sensual - Secret Couple Pose

On him, The Ruler:

Top: Bartimeu - B-120 Cyber Shirt [ATHLETIC] [mesh](CyberFair)

Skin, face: VOGLIA - "THOROS" FANTASY Skin (EvoX) (tinted)[BOM](CyberFair)

Pants: Bartimeu - B-53 Pants L/A [mesh](CyberFair)

Eyes: SHIMM - CYBER XV BONUS [BOM](CyberFair)

Hair: NO.MATCH - NO_COLOURS male [mesh]

Claws: L'Emporio&PL - Oblio Vampire Claws male [mesh]

Head: LeLUTKA - CAMDEN 4.0 [mesh]

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

Setting:

Set: Bersav - Chrome Noir // Top Build Piece [PBR][mesh](CyberFair)

Trees: Little Branch - LB_CyberBloom{Animated}*P[mesh](CyberFair)

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

Cyber Fair: The Age of Apophis, part 1 (Escape from Club Apophis, 55)

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STORYLINE: Forbidden Zone border. A dark alleyway. Noon.

The street reeked of ozone, coffee, and fresh blood. Overturned vending machines lined the dirty cement alley. One knocked over vending machine bled shattered mugs across the concrete, their porcelain shards scattered like broken teeth. In the darkest corner, a group of ghouls hunched over a fresh kill.

A hush fell over the landscape as if all sound had suddenly been sucked out of the air.

One creature looked up. A human hand hung limp from its bloodstained jaws.

The asphalt began to vibrate with a deep hum. Low. Inhuman. Glass shook. The surface of spilled coffee rippled in waves.

The other ghouls stopped feeding and looked towards the sound.

A low unnatural fog drifted into the alleyway, rolling over the shattered mugs like an undulating white carpet.

The creatures stood, backing away from their feast.

Then they saw it. Gold eyes burned through the haze like hellfire.

A blur of motion. A flash of white. Jaws. Claws. The sickening sounds of tearing flesh. Monstrous howls echoed off the walls.

Standing at the mouth of the alleyway was a towering figure clad in a white Neu Seoul Police uniform, his low-slung cap throwing his face in shadow. Behind him, a black-and-white police hovercar idled above the fog, red and blue lights flashing.

The remaining ghouls burst through the mist, rushing the man all at once.

He didn’t flinch. His arm swept upward.

Too fast.

An energy field snapped open, the face of Sekhmet blazing within.

The first ghoul’s claws struck its energy barrier and skated off in a blinding spray of blue sparks.

The ghouls broke formation, but it was too late.

A cyberblade sliced through the pack with lethal heat.

The fight was over before it began.

The last ghoul dropped to its knees. “Have mercy..." its dry throat croaked. “My King, we starve..."
The officer looked down. His cyberblade flashed.

The severed head rolled across the slick pavement, bumping gently against the man’s heavy black boot. One milky eye stared upward at him in absolute horror. Then it faded, unfocused.

A mechanical voice spoke from the alley. “My King, all escapees are eliminated.”

A glossy white lioness padded lightly out of the fog, its metallic jaws splattered in black fluid. It paused before the man, and dropped a severed ghoul arm onto the pavement like a cat bringing a gift.

The man wiped the dripping black blood from his blade’s edge before both the sword and shield folded neatly back into his gauntlets. He unhooked his faceplate, revealing a handsome, chiseled visage. His gold eyes held the terrifying weight of a thousand lifetimes.

A crowd had gathered at the edge of the alley, recording the scene on lifted wrists and high-gain ocular implants.

A woman near the front lowered her camera slightly. Her recording kept running, but her smile vanished. She was not looking at the hero. She was staring at the strange badge on his jacket. A cobra with its fangs bared, swallowing the sun.

The Ruler of the Night was suddenly beside her.

A blast of wind whipped her hair across her face.

He snatched the camera from her hand and crushed it in his palm as if it were paper.

She gasped, her heel slipping in gore as she staggered backward.

His smoldering gaze then swept over the crowd, locking on the merchants cowering behind the nearest carts.

“You should not be running food stalls in this sector,” his deep rumbling baritone could be felt as well as heard. “The perimeter is unsafe. All contraband is forfeit. Go home.”

No one moved.

“NOW.” He swept one arm across the nearest cart. Skewers of Korean BBQ tumbled into the gutter.

The merchants turned and fled down the avenue abandoning their carts.

The Ruler of the Night did not watch them go. His eyes were on the lioness. "What news have you on the boy?"

The robotic beast settled beside him.

“Observe,” it projected security footage onto a grimy wall. “It is exactly as you predicted, my King. Their escape remains undetected.”

The flickering image showed a tall, muscular red-haired guard carrying the sleeping boy, his long white hair trailing across the floor. The guard was looking left and right as he crept out of the screen.

“Rewind.”

The lioness obeyed. “The relevant footage of the comatose boy begins at 6:32 pm.”

“Zoom in.”

The footage zoomed in on Jihoon, focusing on mist beginning to roll off his body.

“At 6:42 pm, REM sleep indicators.”

The footage zoomed back out, revealing the guard collapsing.

“At 6:53 pm, sensors detected a spike of energy at the exact moment the guard fainted.”

“Hmm.” The Ruler pointed to the fallen guard. “A call for help.”

“Yes, my King. The boy has exhibited two of your gifts. The mist and the extremely rare Dream Sight. He is immobile, not helpless. Congratulations, my King. You have created a strong fledgling. Does the child know the rules of the Blood Bond?”

The Ruler did not reply.

A slow, ruthless smile touched his lips. “Cancel the ceremony.”

The lioness’ heavy titanium tail stopped its rhythmic swaying.




On him, The Ruler of the Night:

Jacket: TRK - Losttune_Jacket_LEGACYM, white [mesh](CyberFair)(399L)

Cap: AURICA - Ray Cap [mesh](CyberFair)(249L)

Tattoo: MIDORI - Cyber Neck 07 [mesh](CyberFair)(399L)

Eyes: SHIMM - CYBER XV BONUS [BOM](CyberFair)(100L)

Pet: SEmotion Libellune - Felis Nexus Companion, Special [Animesh](CyberFair)(gacha 88L)

Sword: Mythic - [M] Claw Sword and Shield [mesh](CyberFair)(640L)

Pants: Savage - Blade Pants // LegacyM [mesh]

Boots: Gabriel - ::GB::Double belt metal boots, LEGACY, Black [mesh]

Headset: SOLE - SA Headset ARA2, Black [mesh]

Gloves: Archivefaction - Penumbra Gloves_Legacy M_Slim Fingers [mesh]

Head: LeLUTKA - CAMDEN 4.0 [mesh](3990L)

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

Pose: momomuller - 3M gogogo 1-1

Setting:

Vending Machine: Cerridwen's Cauldron - Scifi Black Honey Coffee [mesh](CyberFair)(499L)

Background: Zeroichi - REITO Backdrop [mesh](CyberFair)(560L)

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