New HR Flash Poll: Dark Fates, Dark Times
Hello everyone,
New poll up! Due to last chapter's circumstances, there's only two choices this time. I'll be outlining the arc on Sunday, so the poll will close around then so we can begin the arc on Monday ;)
1) The World of Ruins: Something goes terribly, terribly wrong, and Simon finds himself waking up in the far future, in a ruined land drowning in miasma and monsters. As he investigates what caused this terrible future of despair, meeting old faces and new ones, Simon sets out to teach the locals that the real demon is there to take back his Crimson Throne. But beware those who dare enter the halls of the Minotaur...
Contains: A pissed Simon let loose in a post-apocalyptic, demon-infested world rip for the tearing; Asterion shenanigans; intel on the Zodiac Fiends, the Mana Goddess, and the reigns; levels; and violence. Lots of violence.
Unlocks: ???.
2) Throne of the Night: Something goes terribly, terribly wrong in ways none could expect, and Simon escapes into the night as a beast bereft of light and filled with a vile hunger. Hiding out in a fortress as he tries to find a solution to his predicament, Simon will watch the years and decades lengthen into the night… if only those pesky peasants and their Paladin friend don’t cut his time short.
Includes: Vampire lord Simon (what is a man but a miserable pile of shit?) vibing in his haunted castle for a very, very long time, Unique Darkblood sorceries, new Diabolism & Performances, Libromancy, another Dungeon-focused reign, adventurer bullying, Cassandra’s mom, a good look at the Zodiac Parade and the world beyond.
Unlocks: Prince of Thieves, Remembrance Reigns.
Comments (110)
I'll im sick of people trying to make Simon a paladin with a different class and ideas
Im honestly sick of the polls every time something new and interesting option that will unlock more of simons powers like his liberomancy or diabloism or the key thing he needs for his thrid eye his rembrances the polls force us to go on a pointless sidetrack that ends in a quick riegn instead of a reigh that will let him get a powerup and learn to use what he has
Narratively this is just the right time for World of ruins, and it continues off of the previous reigns info about the mana goddess and other discoveries
I'd love vampire Simon, but the post-apocalyptic world just flows a bit better after the last chapter. At some point Simon does need to dedicate some time to a training montage where he gets used to all his disparate powers
I think the vampire reign with this ending is silly. What, in the void Dracula pulls up saying, “hullo👉👈😘”. I think he needs to work through some anger after the rage bait of The Oracle.
Voting for Ruins because those lyrics for the previous Performances were so hard to get through. Id rather read a flirting/romance scene from Twilight than go through one of Simons songs again. Especially because the point of Simon feeling isolated in his options or ability to make his own decisions did not come through well.
I want the vampire arc so badly. An actual long reign sounds awesome but the Ruin just makes more sense rn. Please let it be next.
A pissed off Simon and Asterion is all you needed to say to get my vote. Besides, curious to see just how ruined the world is and how Simon even reached such future
i simply do not like vampires. while it may be a good reign to farm, i think it sounds kinda boring. it may be fun for a couple chapters but i dont wanna read 10 chapters of being holed up in a castle. not to mention i think its best to steer the reigns so that he dosent get corrupted as much. being a vampire is 100% gonna make massive changes to his character.
Well is obviously got be the world of ruins, no real reason to even consider the other one. “…and Cassandra’s mom” …now hold on a sec
As always I like all options
Alright looks the reign after world of ruins is gonna be a vampire Simon so cool can’t wait to read the next two stories.
Doubt it, odds of us having back to back future apocalypse runs feels low. Throne of Night is probably going on the back burner for two or three reigns after this
I like World of Ruins, but I also fear that Throne of the Night will be lost forever
Nah, Void likes that reign. We will get it at some point. Just not yet
I would have liked Diabolism but this isn't looking good
The World of Ruins LES GOOOO
I feel that if World of Ruins will be a reign, then this will be the best place to put it.
Throne of Night is the obvious choice here. Not only will we see what happens beyond the Zodiac Parade, but Simon will finally be freed from the curse of living one year at a time. Every time a reign ends, Simon loses decades of his potential lifespan. If he had lived full lives up to now, he would be at least 1000 years old. This isn't the Perfect Run, he only gets one hundred reigns. Not to mention the obvious power leveling and sorcery unlocks that he could get by living for multiple centuries. If you want Simon to actually dominate the world, then vote THRONE OF NIGHT!
I think it would make his character change too much and harder to empathize with, you can't stay the same even after living for a mere decade or two more.
I felt pretty short changed on the Simon Alcyone character interactions, but I hope Asterion becomes a better character for Simon to be with. He definitely has a good rapport with the Bull
I think was definitely one of the weaker reigns, still some good stuff and fun times happening but as a follow up to Lux ? Idk just felt like we needed another week of chapters before we got to the Oracle, not enough bonding with the Unicorn team and not enough knowledge gained about Helel / Mana Goddess
I still want Throne of Night but World of Ruin is the obvious result of this chapter.
Probably the cruelest poll so far. I just love these two reigns too much. I have to admit, it’s surprising to see the WoR so high up after the last poll had it being beaten by the White Unicorn and Vampire reigns. I’m tempted by the Asterion shenanigans and levels, but I can’t ignore the potential of more Diabolism, Darkblood sorceries, and Libromancy. Those, alongside unlocking the remembrance reigns, show enough promise to open up new avenues of suff—character development for Simon.
I voted for Throne of Night in the last poll, but imo the world of ruins makes more sense right now. Also I want to see Asterion shenanigans
I need World of Ruins and I need Simon to Slaughter His Way to higher levels.
Even if vampire sounds cool, world of ruins just makes so much sense after this
World of ruins has a better narrative flow after this reign compared to the vampire one. That's fine for later, maybe as a rug pull after a good reign
If that was the case, why even give us the choice?
Ruins might let Simon get levels even in the 80's, lets make Simon unlock his powers and learn more spells first. maybe tame an eidolon or two.
Does anyone know all the zodiac fiends we know and what they correspond with the hundred reigns wiki doesn't have it
Ik I shouldn't take this so personal but I genuinely feel like my heart is breaking rn. This hurts so much.
WHAT?!! I thought we all wanted Vampire Simon and Cassie’s Mom. Libromancy? Dungeon defense? Cmmmmonnnnnn
That come later. Right now, Simon is pissed and needs to work that anger out.
Re the levels - consider that you need power to kill things to acquire levels. This means that one's relative ability to acquire levels is directly correlated to amount of power they have that is not directly derived from their raw level, which then scales with xp requirement. To put it simply, level 80 Simon killing Oracle and level 80 Simon with 200 Techniques, full artifacts and buffs and other shit killing Oracle would get roughly same amount of xp, but one of them is much more likely to succeed. The XP scaling kicking in now makes this the single worst possible time to just yolo farm levels, because rate of level power to xp is at its lowest. In other words, at this moment this is the single worst moment to do Ruin if you want xp because Simon's ability to acquire it is at its relative lowest. Frankly the Unicorn reign was already a waste whose most important takeaway was "we need to train" and "just yolo leveling is not doable anymore" but apparently we are just ignoring this?
Think World of Ruins makes most sense narratively after everything, and give Simon a look at bad future he wants to prevent.
How the f would he become a vampire when time stops? Last time it made some sense with Helel and Light shenanigans. This time it doesn't make sense at all. World of Ruin tho fully makes sense
If we don't get both versions, obviously not at once or one after the other, I'll be disappointed. Both ideas seem amazing to me, so I'd like to see the second option in the future. TFTC
I swear every single time the option to explore libromancy, shapeshifting, or performances comes up it ends up getting completely over looked. Elios doesn't even have the decency to showcase libromancy in the one fight we see him really flex his muscles literally any lich could have had the same fight and it would have been indistinguishable from what i read.
Voting for the one with levels. It's always the rational choice because it tortures our Author into coming up with new threats that can kill a lvl 90+ Overlord with 50 reigns to go.
"I-it has to be World of Ruins!" You can, and will, make same argument for every poll ever. However what Simon needs is to sit down and just farm for 20 years. Farm spells, farm techniques, farm Eidolons, farm designs, farm combat and farm levels. Then, after this Reign ends, you can pursue the plot properly. Unicorn Reign we've just had should clue you in, if Simon was stronger he might have pushed Oracle back and got much more out of it. While I agree that Ruin is more interesting, Throne of Night is just necessary to get out of weird powerlevel state Simon has found himself in. So far he just yolo levled his way through things, but it is becoming obvious that XP is not as easy to get, and thus just training becomes something that has to be done, and sooner we do it less Reigns we waste due to lack of power.
The World of Ruins explicitly promises levels, once he gets those powerlevels he can go through the several hundred years Throne of Night promises and refine his skills and techniques.
World of ruin might make more narrative sense BUT i want to see the remembrances and a vampire simon so bad!!!
Very suprised to see World of Ruins after all this time, glad to see it back. And after that shitshow Simon deserves a vacation reign of just killing demons mass. (Still totally want Vampire Simon in the future though)
Vote for World of Ruins, vote for Doomguy Simon!
I am… very split. World of Ruins has been a long time coming, and I like the idea of it. But also… I like the idea of a long reign, and Throne of Night is a delightfully long one. Dracula Simon would be fine at lvl 72-73. He’s strong enough to be a serious contender against almost anyone. Throne of Night promises time for Simon to improve his miasma control, breadth of known spells, crafting knowledge, as well as a long list of other benefits that time affords. At the same time, WoR might have us spending time with the Minotaur, and the length of it is not decided. I could see Simon and the Minotaur actually working together, and the Minotaur can absolutely teach Simon a lot about chronomancy and the workings of the time loop (which would be both perfect for the plot and incredibly powerful). Perhaps that’s the hidden reward? Always bet on ‘???’ to be good. I think the optimal sequencing would be WoR and then immediately into ToN.
Lmfao. ??? has always been a trip to the abyss. See the poll where Sanctuary of sky and Jester King are chosen.
future, i want blood and gore, gimme a thriller baaaaabyyyyy
Would of Ruins seems to be the best option. Simon has reached a plateau of quick leveling and needs to get to the ruined worlds to get stronger. He”ll need to be level 90 at least to have a chance against Lysandra
Choose whatever you want, both are win-win 🔥
I quite like Asterion, he seems to be the most reasonable out of all the Zodiac Fiends so far.
I deapaired in being forced to choose between the unicorn overlord and the throne of night, but after much toil and torment, I chose the unicorn. Now, it is time. The throne beckons.
Cassandra's mom!!!!! If You are a true believer in this sect, You know what we are looking for
Throne of the night has LIBROMANCY… the choice is clear
Does no one want to see him in Ruins at his full fighting potential? Seriously, he isn't fully trained yet. The Adventurer already pointed out the flaws that we are willing ignoring.
Ruins is a dead end. The world's already broken for that reign and all Simon can do avenge the fallen, get experience, and gather information.
World of ruins sounds like a well of information. But if there is one Simon Simon need now, then it is a long reign. Time to hone skills, analyse learned knowlede, make proper plans and exsperiment.
We're not doing this folks. Not again
Come on, we can get unlocks. levels are not everything.
"Cassandra’s mom" Did you all not read this part? Why are the vote results wrong?
Time for an upgrade?
Are we talking about „adventurer bullying“ or „Adventurer bullying“?
Yes!
World of Ruins just seems like the more natural progression here, I agree with other commenters who say Simon living decades in the darkness would change him too much. Also I quite like Simon interacting with devils and demons I just think it’ll be a fun reign especially with Asterion
The World of Ruins fits there perfectly narrative wise.
I want both!
I voted world of ruins last time, and i still want it. The entire idea just seems so awesome.
World of Ruins feels more natural in terms of mindset for Simon. I also really don't like vampires - they suck!
Nooo, that was so bad!!!! I can't unseen that...
As much as I really want Throne of the Night, this feels like the right time for World of Ruins. Idk about "somehow he became a vampire" after falling into an abyss of broken time. We'll get dracula Simon when he's stronger.
We need to unlock remembrance range to get that finally.
The world of ruins makes more sense to me narratively speaking after the last reign's end, and this is a good opportunity to change the setting a bit after these last faction-focused reigns
This too. A fucked world makes sense after that end. Bein a vampire suddenly... less so. But maybe bein a vampire after some shit he pulls innn the world of ruin on the other hand..m
Mana goddess, finally
“A pissed off Simon let loose” Deal! What more needs to be said??
Cassandra’s mother shall not sway me! Ruin!
Rip and Tear! As fun as centuries old vampire Simon would be, I'm hesitant to put Simon through a single reign multiple times longer than his current total lifetime. There would have to be some major character changes after that, and I want some more reigns with current Simon. So to the battlefield, and battle the Parade!
Yea Andrew has it pretty right. Both sound awesome, and tbh the vampire one sounds like it would have more interesting and relevant lore, but... it also seems like it would change Simon permanently even more than the other option. Plus, ripping and tearing in a world where he is out to prove hes the bigger bad sounds like a hell of a ride. Could be a good option for the next reign after this one, though. It does sound like another reign that could reasonably complicate Simone revival and result in the vampirism.
I would really like throne of the night but its smells like there gotta be quite a bit of loops and hoops to piece today ending into making simon a vampire when The world of ruins can just start and it would be easy to end it for example with simon dying to vampire virus or from transitioning to a vampire.
Hard choice
Yooooooooooooooo
Both options sound good... I'm thinking the Beast option sounds the most "plausible" from the current fight (They broke time so drop off is anywhen). But I really want to see the dungeon focus in the Rein of Night.
We have the chance to have a perfect 50/50 split
Damn, Simon just came back from a pretty chill and heartwarming reign, and is immediately thrown out of the airlock lmao
Kind of funny given how popular Throne was last poll that Ruins is leading currently
It’s become clear, Simon’s needs those sweet levels.
Finally throne of night is online! World of ruins feels too bleak to me especially since vouvrie’s reign (I’m sure I spelt it wrong but oh well) was only two reigns ago and is quite recent.
I actually find Throne of Night to be the bleaker option. Sitting in his castle being miserable sounds pretty bleak to me. Both options would certainly be fun though.
WOLRD OF RUINS
BLOOD AND GORE AND VIOLENCE
> Cassandra's mom Say no more
Edgelord. Said more.
Moloch vs Balal elections
Best comment
Throne of night all the way!
HOLY SHIT WORLD OF RUINS MY GOAT I mean... looking at the choices here, and what each reign contains, there's a clear winner, right? Besides, a pissed off Simon going doomslayer fits much more than him brooding in a castle, especially after he's seen the bright past that should have been his. Less mental gymnastics to get to Ruins, too, compared to having to make Simon a vampire somehow. ALWAYS BET ON ???
No, because Simon still hasn't trained yet. Give him time instead of throwing him in the thick of it
Oh this is an easy one
So that's how things go terribly, terribly wrong. Welp, you know my opinion. Throne for the experience of time and skill training. Probably get farther along in Ruin if we do Throne first due to Simon having the time to work out all the kinks in his toolkit.
It has to be World of Ruins, after such an event, it's only logical he has a vent run where his focus is understanding all the new mysteries we found in the last run.
Did we learn nothing from the Valravn fight? Simon needs to train and optimize his fighting style. As it is he's gonna get stomped too quickly in Ruins for this to happen. Throne offers Decades to get better.
Alright, goddamn, you did get us. I’ve been getting too used to the safety of a poll not being up.
Void pranked us.
Those question marks tho!
It is also worth noting at the time of this comment we are 4 minutes past publication amd we are already at 186 total votes. This is gonna go hard
I need both😔
Well. These both sound like a fun time
FINALLY THRONE OF THE NIGHT, I'VE WAITED DAYS!🙏
Defo Cassandra’s mom
Bro Astarion>>>>>