Lords of Creation (Story Thread 2)

[Philote]

As the two face off, Gilgamesh signals and the horns sound the start of the match.

[Zaleramancer]

Old Mag' was gloating over her new possession. She wasn't entirely certain what it did, but it reeked of magic. That was a reek Maggie was part-cu-larly fond of.

Though the giant fin did partially scare her out of her skin. Her heart calmed down at about the same time she burned through all the curses and swears she knew in Dwarven.

Sea creatures normally left Hags alone. They tasted horrid and inevitably gave you stomach pains like you wouldn't believe. Not even a starving Krake was that hungry.

"H-hello there. How can this old crone assist you mighty fish?" She said in a voice as smooth as gravel.


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Far away, Sonia and Itself bolt straight up, suddenly aware of each other's presence.

They immediately rush towards each other, their paths unintentionally aimed to converge at the nearby cave...

[Philote]

The shark moved forward as if to speak, moving deeper into the darkness of the candle's glow, and it seem to spasm for a moment as its wits were affected by the candle's powers.

Confused and angry by the candle's powers, the shark dived back below the waters, sending a large wave that rocked the hag's boat. The Cecaelia around the boat scattered, creating their own set of waves, before returning to swarm beneath the boat along with the shark.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Taro and Rubi slowly circle around the arena, waiting for the other to make a move. Both gather some of their natural element in hand forming a weapon, for Taro: a sword of blood, Rubi: ice sickles.

Taro watches Rubi cautiously, he knows not what her full abilities are having never fought against her.

Rubi watches Taro patiently, she knows what abilities he has due to listening to her great-aunt and other Yukionna and Yukiotoko, but can she overwhelm him? She'd certainly try. Rubi moves forward letting the powers of her two racial heritages flow together to form new abilities like acids and bases combine to form water and salt. From her back spring forth wings with razor-sharp blades in place of feathers as she moves forward to engage Taro in hand-to-hand combat.

Taro frowns as he lets his body turn into bats formed of blood and flies to the opposite side of the arena, this was unexpected. Last he knew, neither the Yukionna nor the Lycanthropes had wings. Which god was playing with him? He would have to find out later for sure.

Rubi moves slightly slower than the bats, she'd been expecting Taro to try running to avoid the blades of her wings. Not that it would do him any good to use his special ability either, she'd just bleed him to death then. Not much you can do if you're completely dead and she knew the weaknesses of Taro's blood magic as well. Rubi rapidly fires feathers from her wings to intercept Taro as he reforms and swings her sickles in a wide arc to cut off his arm.

As he reforms, Taro gets hit in the stomach, arms, and groin by Rubi's feathers and blocks her sickles, if just barely. Slowly, the blood coming from the wounds dealt to him by Rubi coalesce to form several bats and rats that scurry forward to bite her on her legs.

As the blood creatures near her, Rubi shifts form, no longer humanoid, her body's skeletal structure reforms to become lupine as Rubi changes to her wolven form. Changing yet again, her body becomes pure flames.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Babysitter slammed through the snow, making hew way deeper and deeper into the woods, hearing the shouts and horns behind her. At least the trees and hills have her a movement advantage, if nothing else. She stopped to rest, and felt something fly past her shin and bury itself in the snow. She looked up and saw here pursuers, gaining ground. Sucking in her breath, she dove onward through the trees.

There was a small crevice up ahead. You couldn't even see it from most angles, but it as there. She couldn't see, but knew it was there. She didn't know how she knew, but any port in a storm. She came upon it ans squeezed herself in.

She couldn't see the horses go past, but she could hear them. Snorting, braying, their hooves like shushed thunderclaps in the undergrowth. Once they went past she could circle back and-

Except that wouldn't work. One of them would see her if she did that, she knew. Just knew, somewhere in the depths of her soul.

There was no way out of this.

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The house was burning, and the Reasonable had no other way out but the window. He attempted and action dive through it and failed miserably just as the roof caved in. He landed in a heap of broken glass, with cuts all over his face, the wind knocked out of him, and his glasses rolling away in front of him. He found, to his dismay, that in mortal form he needed them. He reached out for them, and that's when someone put their foot down on his wrist.

The man was big, and his features were bathed in deep shadow even in the flickering fire light. Her applied pressure, and sharp pain rushed through the Reasonable as he heard a sharp crack, and he screamed aloud. The figure reached sown, grabbed his glasses, and crushed them in his hand. Then it spoke.

"Well, Well, Well. What do we have here boys. A survivor, huh? Well kid, I'm not a dishonorable man. Get on up and we'll do this properly. The man stepped back, and the Reasonable could see, for the first time, that he was surrounded by them. He tried to stand, his wrist flopped unnaturally, and he fell back to the ground cursing with pain. It was then that he felt a sharp kick to the ribs. "C'mon, boy, don't you want to die on your feet? I can just kick you to death, if you like?"

The Reasonable hauled himself up from the dirt, whimpering only slightly. He thought the man was smiling, although he couldn't be sure. "Atta boy, we got a fighter here. Hey, throw me a sword!" the man called out to his fellows. From one of them, a sword was flung and the man caught it deftly. He presented it to the reasonable. "There, now don't anyone go and say this was unfair." Laughter from the shadowy circle came.

The Reasonable tried to take the sword, ans was unprepared for the weight. More laughter, loader this time. He couldn't see well, but he could tell that the sword was big. A two-hander, for a grown man. He would be better off with his fists, not that that was saying much. He raised them, wincing.

"Oh, you got some balls kid. Alright." He said, dropping his sword on the ground. "Now if you win, me and my buddies will let you go."

It was a lie, he could tell by the mans smile. The only thing he could see was the smile. It was a smile that shouldn't be there. As in, this shouldn't have happened. He didn't know how it should have gone, but he had a distinctive feeling that this wasn't it. This Smug smiling thug should never have been into the city, he knew it. It was like someone had changed the script.

The man raised up his arms in a fighters stance. "Ready?" he said.

He wasn't.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The Elves looked at one another and, just as the first archer had healed her arm, thanks to one of the mage's vials of elixir, lunged forward.

Twenty against three? They liked these odds.

Arrows and magic flew.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

The blood creatures that so much as touch Rubi fall to the ground as puddles of red water. Rubi leans her head back and howls out loud to the sky before moving forward to rip apart Taro.

Taro moves quickly. He might not be able to equal Rubi in terms of numbers of powers, but he could very easily equal her in terms of versatility and overwhelm her with power. Taro quickly casts a second-level Stride spell, the first Elemental Protection Tier: Fire Stride. Flames burst into existence around him keeping Rubi's flame wolf form away from him long enough for Taro to seal the wounds inflicted upon him with hardened blood.

As soon as Rubi realizes that the flames keep her from attacking Taro, she shifts back to her normal form and forms 2 sickles of nevermelting ice before moving to cut Taro down.

Taro let Rubi come near him, before ducking down and releasing all the blood in his vials onto his blood sword. As Rubi's sickles sink into the arena wall, Taro unleashes a dense, concentrated wave of blood from the tip of his sword: the Bloody Fang.

The Bloody Fang hits Rubi square in the chest and she goes flying back hitting an arena wall a mere 3 metres away before collapsing to the ground bleeding from her wound and unconscious. The fight was over.

[Philote]

The Dragonborn realized quickly that they could be seen, and their old instincts from a lifetime of thievery kicked in. Those that had not moved to the front of the battle disappeared into the shadows and rock formations of the cave only to reappear in position to surround the elves.

One of the archers was easily isolated from its two companions due to it having already having moved away during the fight and the number of Dragonborn that had moved between the two groups.

Balasar himself stepped out of the shadows behind the isolated archer. Even without being invisible, Balasar was the master of not being seen unless he wanted to be. His serrated daggers rose up to assassinate the elf.

One Dragonborn launched a dead Boquabian toward the mage's shield, already bringing up his blade to take advantage of the mage having to move the body out of the way.

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"The match goes to Taro" Gilgamesh announced "The next match shall be between Atlas and yet another new entrant to the tournament."

Bahamut stayed in the air. The cloud he would disperse in a moment when he was sure the vampire had made his way away from the arena. He would return to claim his spot next to the arena when the next match began.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The other Boquabians watched in horror as the elves fought the invisible menace.

The second elf looked up to see she was about to be killed by the leader of the Dragonborn, but her companion had caught sight of him an instant quicker. She launched an arrow in his direction and quickly returned her attention to the others, whipping out a handful of throwing knives.

The mage turned himself and his shield intangible, passed through the Dragonborn and his blade and whipped around, turning tangible again, right on time to blast his foe with a magic missile to the back. Then he inverts the shield, turning it into a magic net, and uses the ensnared Dragonborn to smack the others senseless.

The first elf whips out as many throwing knives as she can get her hands on. And when she runs out, she quickly reaches for the Flame Dust. Her fellow archer takes a hint and does the same thing.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

With Taro's match done, the Shadow-Scarred pull him and Rubi out of the arena to safety and the healing of the Tanuki. Mikoto rushes out of the stands to see how her great-niece is doing.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Well, that was an elegant solution, I'll give Gil that." he said as the great dragon descended and the shadows began to vanish. "Don't you thing?" The Watchman turned to, Sisters. It was hard to differentiate between individual Vandals, but Sisters was quite a bit smaller than her sisters. The Poor girl also looked slightly miserable.

He noticed, also, that someone was missing. He looked around. "Where did..."

"Shewentdownthere." the words had come out all at once. Sisters was shaking slightly, and had the worried look of child who had done something wrong.

The Watchman turned round just as Two Gods entered.

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Two Gods Sitting made a distasteful sound under her breath. She had told the god her name when she had asked him for this. Once she had heard that this man was going to be pushed through without a match, she had leapt at the opportunity.

She heard the cheer of the crowed, felt the eyes of thousands upon her. She spun in a circle, taking it all in. This? This was already worth it.
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She had on some sort of freshly spun grey robe, concealing everything but her head. He had coaxed what had happened out of sisters, slowly drawing information out. Apparently, she had left not long after he had to speak with Gilgamesh. She must have waited outside the room while they had been talking, and done preparation while he was reviving that human.

"Oh, for the love of-"

"Will she be okay?"

Sisters was looking at him, pleading with her eyes. He thought about it. Two Gods had no training in how to fight. But, she had been made for it. Fighting was in her soul, it was her core. A certain type of fighting, in particular. And they did seem to learn fast.

"Maybe."
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She was going to make someone mad, she knew.

But who cared about that, when there was this sort of fun to be had. She walked up and stood before her opponent.

"Now, don't go to hard on me. This was my birthday wish."

[Philote]

The arrow cut through the scales of Balasar's left arm, the force of the impact lifting him off his feet. The Dragonborn leader rolled back to his feet, using the blade of his free hand to cut off the arrow that protruded from his arm. The arrowhead he would have to leave alone though as he attended to the fight. The elf he had attack had become overconfident and had underestimated him.  The elf had though Balasar would no longer be a threat, pulling out throwing knives to deal with other targets. Balasar would prove him wrong. The Dragonborn brought the blade of his knife against the elf who had been unfortunate enough to let his guard down.

The Dragonborn attacking the mage and archer duo let loose their breath, focusing to condense the acidic attacks on the ground around the elves to destroy what footing they had. As they did, the Dragonborn would use their agility to their advantage as well. They could not dodge all the attacks of the elves, but they could dance around their foes and assault their openings until they were weakened.

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Atlas stood across from the Vandal, a single blade formed from the gel of his body resting in his hand. "I will not hold back my blade for the sake of you. Your Watchman will ensure that no great harm comes to you, but I may easily suffer and die today and will be all the stronger for it. Why would I hold back my blade for one who has nothing to fear?"

The horns sound the start of the match.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Horns sound, and a hand moves from under the cloak. A clear jug sales through the air, it's contents a pleasant orange. The horn are still sounding as she leaps backwards and away. The glass shatters at Atlases feet, the liquid bubbles for a fraction of a second.

The world explodes.

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The Watchman shakes his head at Atlases little speech. How is it even possible to miss the point that much. Then, a fireball engulfs the middle of the arena, the explosion load enough to deafen some of the people siting close.

"What was that?" he asks Sisters.
"Explosive bile." She replies.
'You can do that?"
"Yes. And other things." she's kind of nervous.

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Two Gods tries to peer through the smoke. That had been risky, but satisfying. That stuff had a hair trigger. She didn't know how she knew about it, but she did. Perhaps this was the thing they called instinct.

[Zaleramancer]

Itself flies shrieking above the scuffling warriors, colliding with the speeding Sonia.

A flash of light and both are sent sprawling.

"How are you here?" Sonia yelled, swords at the ready.

Itself hissed, "You here how also?!"

[Philote]

A blade stretched out from the smoke as it rocketed in the Vandal's general direction.

Moments before, Atlas had been blown back by an explosion that was unlike any magic he had faced before. The factor that had saved him was that the force exerted by the explosion had been dulled as it moved through Atlas' gel body. This was not to say that he was unfazed by the assault, and even now his vision was still blurred as he stretched his blade out through the smoke. The attack was more to keep the pressure on his opponent than to do any true damage.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The blade plowed its way out of the smoke, almost to fast for Two Gods to see, certainly to fast for her to get out of the way. So she didn't.

With a swish of her cloak, the Vandal turned around and took the blow with her back. She stumbled forward, but her curved wing shell deflected most of the attacks energy, though the cloak was left with a terrible scar.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

(24 motes previously +3 motes, Total: 27 motes)

Kyuuketsu wanders around the city, noting all of the different areas that were in it as well as the things set up in it. She eventually wanders into the Dome at the center of the city. Walking into the meeting room of the gods, she takes note of the number of chairs in around the central table. In total she counted 54 different chairs, most of which were not unique, but the ones that had been appeared to have taken on an appearance based on the god that had sat in them. Walking over to a chair nearby the one that appeared to be Lady Mina's, Kyuu sat down. As she did so, the chair changed form to become a wooden rocking  chair with blood flowing throughout its xylem and phloem. Kyuuketsu leaned back. She'd stay here for a little while and think about what to do next...

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Mother of hell and doom!" Fandas recoiled in horror at the sight, jumping into Draias' arms, only to be quickly dropped onto the ground in a moment of the investigator's remembered agitation.

"Would you be quiet?!" Draias looked down, panicked, as he and the rest of his crew (which consisted only of Linessa, Rox, Gosso and Fandas now) finally found the strength in their legs, to scramble back behind the rocks of the cave for cover.

What would happen with these two new beings? The other two watched with apprehension, hoping no more lives would be lost, when suddenly, it became apparent to Linessa, then Gosso, then Rox.

They recognized that white-clad maiden! It was Sonia, the strange one they had encountered on their walk! Maybe SHE could be of some assistance against the invisible monsters. After she handled her own problem first...

[Philote]

Atlas felt the blade make contact with something hard, but could not tell the result of the attack through the smoke. Retracting the blade, he began to circle around to the right of the smoking crater to find his opponent. Atlas held up his blade up defensively before him, stretching the blade to give him more surface area to deflect with.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Gods regained her footing, and braced for a second strike that didn't come. She turned round slowly, to see that he still hadn't appeared. Fine, sh would be ready for that again. She felt around insider her cloak, at the various things she had strapped to her body, until she found what she needed.

The bile hadn't done the job. Time for phase two.

4 stick appeared in her hands from under the cloak, appearing to be made of the same material as the jug from before. The ends of these she quickly brought to her mouth, wetting them with her spit and placing them together into one long rod. She tested it's strength, and it held. She reached again into the cloak, and extracted what looked like a spearhead. It appeared to be hollow, and some sort of green substance sloshed around inside. This she whetted and affixed to the end of the rod.

She saw her opponent emerge from the smoke, in a defensive stance. She fixed her weapon, and charged.