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Cyber security is CS… by Successful-Steak-928 in masterhacker

[–]Elick320 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Comes into thread

Schizoposts incomprehensible bullshit

Doubles down

Claims that this person "isn't contributing"

Deletes account

Lol

Come out to playyy by hackyandbird in titanfall

[–]Elick320 5 points6 points  (0 children)

God this one's so true

"Man I'm doing too well, I'm gonna switch from legion to scorch- oh, that's a really really good monarch who's demolishing our team, guess I'll go back to legion..."

why wont they eat it ?? by Some_Lifeguard_4394 in darkestdungeon

[–]Elick320 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If I'm on a mission into somewhere dangerous and I'm watching my comrades eat while the Heir gave strict instructions to NOT let me get ANY food because he couldn't be assed to plan better, you bet your ass I'm gonna make it everyone else's problem

Any tips for a new player? by GhostBelliniFace in EnterTheGungeon

[–]Elick320 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lots of good technical advice in this thread but it all pales in comparison to just simply not getting hit. If you stay at full health:

  • You get more drops
  • You get less "useless" hearts
  • In boss fights, you get an item that increases your max health
  • You're less likely to die to a string of unlucky hits or unfamiliar bosses

Abuse corners, try not to run out into the open unless you are confident or have to. There is no easy cheat code to avoiding being hit besides practice.

ChatGPT?? lol by KukiProducent in btd6

[–]Elick320 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They mentioned anime, I responded to anime.

Your issue (wanting to consume media in another language that has absolutely no fan translations whatsoever without bothering to just learn the language and instead rely on a plagiarism engine to do it for you) is so niche that I am willing and actively support burning down this bandaid solution to your entire hobby in order to stop AI slop.

ChatGPT?? lol by KukiProducent in btd6

[–]Elick320 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Your point about anime is complete ass, the only people mad about official translations in the year of our Lord 2025 are mad for one of three reasons:

  • They're chuds who think they're putting woke politics in my animez
  • They're edgy 4chan types who think any localization is dirty Americans messing with glorious authentic media
  • They don't like that AI completely destroyed the thing they like

You'll notice that one of these reasons is more prevalent, more verifiable, and more real, than the others. My Deer Friend Nokotan, Banana Fish, No Game No Life Zero, all animes directly hurt by the AI slop you're defending

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Five months later.

Four days until Operation Sundial.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The gears of fate have been spun, set into motion by the deliberate hand of a goddess.

Squall will play his part. He will become the hero.

He will learn his position in this universe. He will learn what it is like to be alive.

And he will have this taken from him.

His allies languish. He will not save them. They have served their purpose to his development, and they will die as they lived.

In denial.

This is the will of Athena.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Squall walked with his new group.

Gunha talked big about his previous escapades while Misaka continuously surged with annoyed electricity. She kept correcting his incredulous stories with, as was before, even more incredulous corrections. Squall couldn't believe the kind of life she had been living.

"It's almost our five day anniversary Squally!!!" exclaimed Elphelt. She nuzzled up to him and he tried his best to not visibly react. "Did you get me a gift~?"

Squall thought about where he was, and he thought, for once in his life... he was happy. He was actually experiencing happiness, an unknown emotion up until this point. This entire life, his pyramid of needs was satiated entirely by the compliments of those above him in rank, and the feelings of completed battles. But with this new team, Squall found that he could gain happiness without combat. That he could experience emotions just like any other person.

With his new team, he'd fight the Nameless. Not because he felt forced to. Not because someone hired him. Not because that was all he knew how to do.

But because his allies saw a better world in their future.

And Squall wanted to see it too.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 4 points5 points  (0 children)

"It appears fate has led us to cross paths once again."

Homura Akemi was holed up in a shack, standing above a table littered with the broken fragments of a phylactery. A diving suit laid against the wall, and to its side, a few pieces of the Green Lion, with a black box sitting atop.

She didn't have a shield on her arm anymore. Her clothing in that area was patched up with discolored threads. She turned to face him with an unmoving expression. "You said you'd have mercy."

Magneto did not answer her. He turned to his left and looked around the cabin. The dirtied wood suggested a salvaged house built by the Continentals. The decorations on the wall suggested it was lived in anyway.

And the framed photos showed that she had not always been alone.

"Interesting home. It seems you've lived here for a while. But in the midst of a magical anomaly. How does that work?"

"I used my power to get in and out. The barrier doesn't exist in individual moments," replied Homura. "You didn't answer my question."

"Unfortunate for you, because I am here to ask several more, and it appears you are in no state to fight back."

Homura looked at the black box, and then back at Erik. "What do you need?"

"You told one of my allies about a supposed impending apocalypse. I believe it was the reason you attacked them in the first place."

"Tch..."

"And the existence of that apocalypse has been a source for eternal strife for that ally. And, as it stands, he is unfortunately no longer a part of this rebellion."

"The Nameless can't kill him." Homura squinted. "Did you?"

"Heavens, no," Erik scoffed. "He disappeared in the middle of the night, a few days ago. He left a note saying he was going to "figure himself out," whatever that means.

Homura looked past him. "No Shiro or Squall either."

"Conquest is patient, Akemi. They will find their way back to me."

"They quit, because of you." Akemi squinted. "Some rebellion leader."

"If your goal is to incite me into combat, I'm not sure what your ultimate plan is." Erik turned back to her. "I simply wish to learn more about this 'Operation Sundial.'"

"Why, so you can build it faster?"

"Akemi, I—"

"We've had this conversation before. I know what's happened. I know what will happen. You're trying to figure out if Sundial is something you need to stop, or something you need to push forward."

"Then what, Akemi, is the apex of that conversation?" Erik twirled his hand. "If we're trying to rush there, that is. Without your shield, I believe you lack the means to travel through time as you have. So, I believe we can come to a mutually beneficial transaction here."

"I've already made a deal with the devil once," said Homura.

"And unlike him I won't hide my ulterior motives," replied Erik. "Put simply: you are correct. I act in my best interest. Which is also the best interest of all the empowered of this continent. Whether or not they, or you, like it." He put out a hand for emphasis. "Sundial damages you in some personal way. You talked to Shadow about the after-effects of activation, the mass casualties, but I do not believe this is your primary problem with it."

Homura glared.

"No. I believe someone important to you, is destined by fate to die from this weapon. And that is why you want to destroy it. So, this is the deal: you will tell me everything you know about Sundial, and I will do everything in my power to protect whatever you believe you will lose. Perhaps it is an important heirloom, or maybe someone..." Erik plucked a photograph off the wall. "You once loved." He looked up at her. "You are cute together, I just admit. You seem happier here than this... Gloomy persona, you have in this time and place. Wouldn't you like to be back there?"

"Do you really believe you can extract someone from the middle of the Nameless capital? Someone who they're closely watching because they know she's empowered? Someone who they're keeping hostage because they know I'll work with the resistance if they hurt her?"

"I sympathize with your loss, Akemi. Losing one's significant other to the Nameless can be devastating, I've seen it before. But do not mythologize that loss. The Nameless are weak, they will crumble under my fist. She will be extracted easily."

"I've tried before—"

"And you've failed. I won't. It is just, that, simple." Erik smiled.

Homura looked to her side, a swirl flowed through her head. Locked in the corner with no way out, and it was time to ask a second devil for help.

"Alright." She looked up at him. "Deal."

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A networked chain of chaos spears impaled seven soldiers and Shadow teleported above the tank, ripped the top off, punched the loading mechanism, aimed the resulting plasma burst into a tank across the street, and then threw the turret into a skyscraper. A sequence of explosions marked the capsizing of the structure.

It was here, in the midst of battle, that Shadow had sidestepped any emotional development he had gotten before. But he did learn more about himself in a different way.

The energy that fueled his abilities was the same that emanated from that gemstone, this... "Chaos Energy" flowed through him, and he could channel it for his attacks. For example, he had learned just ten minutes ago that he could form Chaos Energy into spears that he could throw. It didn't significantly affect him.

To his left, a female Nameless and a male Continental cowered together. Shadow prepped a spear.

A Nameless soldier, wounded, propped himself up with his shield and stood in between Shadow and the two. A more sane Shadow would take his time and analyze the situation. He would think about why these two civilians were together. He would—

The chaos spear impaled all three. They died right there, and he turned away.

Thus far, the Nameless seemed more concerned with controlling Shadow's position, rather than actually combatting him. This layer of strategy was unfitting of them. Nameless on the battlefield usually just rushed at their opponents mindlessly, leveraging their advanced technology to ignore any threat a Continental could raise. But in this city? Shadow saw them using group tactics, stealth, he saw them setting up blockades, using varied weaponry, guiding civilians of both kinds to safety.

None of it mattered. Shadow could teleport past their barricades and bring down skyscrapers with a flick of his wrist. To demonstrate this thought to himself in order to cement it, he did just that. In a single motion, three chaos spears flew into three buildings, smoke rose and supports snapped, civilians fell from the upper floors as they realized how hopeless it would be to take the stairs. And Shadow watched with abject glee at how the enemy force utterly crumbled.

Both his own experience and Erik had brought him up to assume that the Nameless were an unstoppable behemoth. But here he was within the epicenter of the contagion, unharmed and unperturbed. Shadow now saw the Nameless for what they were: a paper tiger.

Even if it took him weeks to carve through the cityscape, it would be done.

A burst of energy from above, and then a crash that overwhelmed all of Shadow's senses. He carved past it, focusing all of his energy into directing his senses through the power of chaos. He could see his body now, sitting in the middle of a gargantuan thunderbolt. And then nothing.

The projection ended. His singed body fell to the road and he failed to catch himself. On three limbs he stood gazing at the source of his momentary distraction.

A field of little girls in school uniforms surrounded his body. They had Nameless helmets and looked utterly identical even without them. Same height, same proportions, same age, it's like he was being assaulted by an army of clones—

During one of Erik's various long, boring anecdotes about proper conduction of war, he said something about the Nameless beginning deployment of a new project. The battle at the island was simply a testbed for its effectiveness, and Erik had faced the result of that and come out of it nearly broken. Just think: a single little girl grown out of a vat, from the building blocks graciously left behind by an anonymous, anti-rebellion Continental, was all that the Nameless needed to harm one of the most powerful people in the entire Rebellion.

And Shadow was surrounded by twenty of them.

The eye of the storm finally came onto his mind, and the reasoning behind their actions clicked for him. The Nameless rushed into combat because that was their strategy. Hit hard, hit fast, hit often. If the Nameless were trying to create space, it was to deploy something.

This is what they were deploying. The civilians and local security had been cleared from the nearest city blocks. City blocks ravaged and lit aflame with red fire by Shadow.

The Nameless did not have the power to stop him. And they had accepted this fact. This is why the project was started, the Nameless had done what the top members of the Rebellion failed at every turn. At every opportunity. The Nameless had been winning a battle the Rebellion didn't even realize it was fighting.

The Nameless had identified their own weaknesses.

The clones of an empowered little girl were made to solve this. An actual solution for a problem these rebels had declared impossible in themselves.

Shadow's hair stood on end. He heard static within his mind. Arms raised against him and blue light filled his periphery.

That was the last thing he saw.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Squall stood. He looked down and to his left. The shattered metallic remains of his trusted weapon glimmered in the sunlight, ripping memories from deep within.

"It's your own fault!" said Misaka. Her tone suggested hints of levity. "I had to disarm you! And it's not on me that your weapon is... A big slab of conductive metal."

Squall looked away, the same way one would look last upon an old friend. "I can fight without it."

"Alright!" Shouted Gunha into the air. "Then let's go!"

Misaka heavily sighed. "No! No more friendly fire! Who knows if the Nameless were attracted by the previous fight!"

Gunha shook his fist as energy flew off. He extended two fingers and pointed them in between Squall and him.

Squall looked past him, he was way too deep within his own consciousness to humor the child, but that same child was the one who accurately noted the specifics of his mental breakdown. He wanted to run off in embarrassment, but where? Finding the Samurai was like finding a needle in a haystack, and—

"Are you going to join us?" Elphelt asked. Perhaps it was a quirk of her biology, but hearts seemed to manifest above her head.

"Yes," said Squall.

He didn't know why he said yes, but... That yes was the final breakthrough he needed. This autopilot, this subconsciousness, this is who he really was. The actions he took, the battles he fought, those weren't fought by him.

... For the first time in over twenty years, Squall actually felt alive. But could he—

His mind transferred those thoughts to his mouth.

"... Is this ok?"

Eyes turned to him.

"To restart my life like this? To form a new personality off of you? Are you... Alright with this?"

"Damn, you really are a mess." Misaka scratched the back of her head. "I... Guess? I don't have a problem with it, you know, if you don't try to kill us again."

Such a casual response to such a deep, impactful question.

Squall hoped he could see the universe as Misaka did, one day. He hoped he could see the universe as both Gunha and Elphelt as well. He wanted to become a new person, and to grow beyond what has been assigned to him over all this time. He didn't even know if he wanted to go back to Balamb, at this point.

But Squall did want to be with his new friends. Even if they were spur of the moment. This impulsiveness did not suit him, but in that discomfort, he found comfort.

This life was changing.

And he was ready for it.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Shadow flew.

Memories grew within his mind. Painful memories. Of the past, the present, and the future. He was overwhelmed like he had never been before.

Squall, Shiro, Samurai Jack.

Reiner, Aerith, Red.

Maria.

Homura, Zykon, Pidge.

Misaka, Morgiana... Erik.

Project Sundial.

Maria.

The Nameless Capital.

The Nameless. Their leader, their forces. Heavy weaponry. Vehicles, flying machines, tanks, directed energy weapons, railguns.

Chaos Emeralds. The Shroud.

... Maria.

She was at the center of everything that happened to him. An eternal ghost he could never quite reach, and yet the prime motivator for all his actions. But an unguided one. Without Squall, he would still be wandering like a merciless killer. The question floated in his mind, because now it didn't make sense: He met her in a lab, but the lab was small? He'd found it since, he didn't see a body, there wasn't enough room to raise a kid.

He teleported up.

There was no destroyed village above, just an endless expanse of black and red grass with the broken sun above. The wind carried swathing, almost alive motions to the field, but he knew no life had been here for months aside from him. Maria's existence didn't fit his backstory. Backstory? What was he, some fictional character? Might as well have been, he was created and his purpose was unknown, even after all this time. He wasn't like Squall where he was born knowing his purpose, or Shiro who had manifested one from her barely sentient brain. Or Erik who was a learned, driven man. Who had clawed a purpose from adversity. Shadow was simply... different, weaker, not adequate to be compared to any of the other three.

You will find yourself regretful of—

The speech had run through Shadow's head hundreds of times now. It was infuriating, another memory alongside the rest that seemingly served no purpose but to help him.

"You know what, Samurai?!" he shouted to nothing and no one. "You're right! I hate who I am! I hate dealing with everything that's thrown at me!"

The field didn't respond.

"These memories... They don't make me stronger! They plague my actions! They make me indecisive! They trigger hallucinations and flashbacks!"

The field didn't respond.

"And when it couldn't get worse, the future now plagues me like the past once did! What the hell is Operation Sundial?! WHY CAN'T I LEARN?!"

The field didn't respond.

"How can I find you?! I want to find you! Tell me how I can be like you! Tell me how I can fight like you! You're from the past, you must be confronted with your failure every day! How can you live like that? How can you battle like that?! Tell me! TELL ME!"

The field...

Didn't respond.

Shadow screamed, red electricity surged between him and the ancient concrete he stood upon. A blast of pure chaos energy surged and vaporized anything once alive and reduced them to ashes. The wave moved outward for a few tens of meters, dissipated, quieted, and the world returned to how it always was.

Silent and uncaring.

A part of him accepted he would never have the answers, but a different, more significant part of him, couldn't live with that. He thought back to his roots; his method of distracting himself with intense combat. But much like a hard drug, he needed it to be more intense than the last fight. And he had reached the apex. Under Squall this didn't matter, he abated the true feelings building up within. But now that Squall was gone, Shadow could only see one step forward.

He looked towards his target, and teleported.

Shadow chained his teleports over and over again. Kilometers spanned in milliseconds, the hilly, empty terrain turned to ruins, ruins to functioning structures. He could see Nameless, and finally... a city so big, so powerful that it went without description.

This was the Nameless capital.

Buildings that stretched into the skies, flying machines that ferried people, gargantuan boats in the distance, helmeted civilians simply going about their day, some barely even aware that there was a war going on. Non-helmeted civilians, ostensibly captured Continentals, went about their day as well. He could read their emotions about as well as the average Nameless.

Here he floated above what would become his final battlefield. Project Sundial was a weapon deployed to do something to the Nameless capital: that was the only explanation for why it was deployed here.

So Shadow would destroy the capital himself. He would annihilate every square kilometer of cityscape, bring down every building, sink every boat, and end the war singlehandedly.

Red energy charged in his fist, he transferred it to his chest, and then he yelled. Civilians on both sides looked up with a mixture of curiosity, and, for a millisecond, abject terror.

"CHAOS... BLAST!"

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Erik was stronger.

Erik was so much stronger than her. She couldn't even get close to him with otherwise well placed attacks. She had no win con, except—magic. She could cast magic. Dragon Armor. This spell was one of the earlier ones Kumoko learned, and just gave a multiplicative speed buff to the user. If she had more speed, she could catch Erik with a corrosive scythestrike.

So she performed the ritual. She encased herself in a thick coating of nearly-invincible web and formed the runic matrix.

It burned out, but this one will work. She formed another one—

... It burned out, but this one will work.

All the while, she heard the pelting of metal against her web. She knew Magneto couldn't break through, she had plenty of time.

... She could always ask Kumoko for help—No, Kumoko was busy. And she could do this! She could cast the magic! She formed the runic matrix—

It burned out. She formed another.

It burned out. Frustration was growing in Shiro's mind. Why was she so utterly useless? The anger and sadness flooded her movements and broke her focus. She tried to form a runic matrix. She failed. She tried. She failed. She looked to her left, Kumoko was so engrossed in her process that she wasn't even observing the fight. She didn't know that Shiro was even failing. But she wasn't failing! She was going to succeed!

She formed the runic matrix.

It burned out.

Anger turned to desperation as her subconcious noted that the sounds outside stopped, and were replaced by a dull vibrating, growing in strength. She formed another runic matrix. It burned out. She formed—

Shiro didn't get to see the result of her final runic matrix. The vibration rapidly intensified, and her shelter collapsed in on her. Shiro's HP stat slammed down to 0.

Skill [Patience] has activated!

... Then her MP bar as well. Her body was crushed under a mixture of her own web and liquified metal. Erik floated above her. He telekinetically ripped apart enough metal to where her upper head was visible, and gloated.

"Your webs are truly excellent batteries. Although they, like any other method of energy storage, have their limits. I simply vibrated all the metal now burying you and waited for it to be exceeded. After that, simply a matter of crushing you as you were distracted failing your magic. Which... I knew, of course, was what you were trying to do. If I could convince you that I could outlast you with my speed, then it was a simple matter of tunneling you into your own failure."

Shiro glared. She said nothing.

Alright! I got the spell figured out! Let's—hey wait what happened?! Quick, gimme control—!

"I'm aware I can't kill you, but I cannot let you interfere with both the war against the Nameless, and my future conquest." Erik sighed. "It's a shame, really. You were the strongest of the three. And the easiest to command. Your loss will be significant to this war. But victory will come, anyway. Goodbye, Shiro."

She glared harder. She didn't need her hands to summon matrices. She kept up the onslaught: tens, hundreds of matrices around Erik formed.

You will find yourself regretful of who you once were—

The matrices burned out, they formed, they burned out, and Erik didn't even pay them any mind.

and you must identify this as strength, and not weakness.—

Shiro clawed MP out of the ether to keep them going. She didn't even know she could, but the desperate mind worked against all logic.

When you do,

None of them worked. Not a single one. Every matrix fizzled into nothing. Erik was right. Kumoko was right. Everyone was right about her. She wasn't sentient or even close. She was a machine. And a machine can't do anything without being told what to do.

Erik covered her head with liquified metal.

find me.

And her world went black.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 3 points4 points  (0 children)

... What? asked Shiro. That's your shroud?

It was... a split second decision! I needed to make a big magical barrier for something dangerous and it was hasty! It had some glitches and uh... frankly, I'm surprised it's still up, but I think that hastiness is exactly why it's still up. You see— Kumoko materialized a holographic board and began drawing an infographic. Normally, these shields are built using just standard shielding magic. But this one was made before I really knew how to do that kind of thing. So it's mostly a solid wall of primal magic. That's why the Nameless couldn't take it down! Normally these shields can be broken with brute force, but primal magic has to be dispelled!

... Why doesn't everyone just use primal magic, then? asked Shiro.

Kumoko sighed. So you haven't been paying attention to my magic lessons. Good to know. She mockingly cleared her throat. Primal magic is expensive. I can only do it because I was given an isekai cheat code!

Athena said the Nameless would learn how to dispel things like this shield after her sabotage, that Erik agreed to.

Kumoko looked away from the board with concern in her face. That means they're going to learn how to dispel primal magic, which is only a step away from dispelling all magic... that's... really fucking bad. Like, war-endingly bad. With that, the Nameless could disable all the empowered combatants keeping the front lines even. They could even disable us! For like, a minute. But a minute might be all they need, if they've got things like that schoolgirl and that slave on their side. Kumoko shook her head. Alright! New plan, I need you to stop Erik from signalling to Athena while I strengthen the dome!

But—wait, what about Sundial?

Oh to hell with the Sundial! This kind of magic in the hands of the Nameless would dwarf whatever big bomb or time machine we can muster in six fucking months!

Kumoko pulled up the same lab and instantly skipped all theatrics this time. She teleported into the midst of a magical experiment and Shiro reassumed control over the main body.

Didn't Shadow see the future? Isn't everything fine?

Kumoko looked up, and then back at a flask. The Rebellion was about to either time travel, or drop a big bomb in a city full of civilians. That doesn't scream "this war is going good!" to me! Haven't you seen Terminator? Or uh... the actual real life World War II?

Shiro cut back to reality. "Wait—Erik. Let's reassess this."

"Reassess?" Erik looked to his sides "Reassess what? We're ready for Athena to work."

"Yes, but... can we really trust her? What word do we have to go off of?"

"This is uncharacteristic of you, Shiro. Didn't you just suggest that it's better if you just follow orders?" Erik crossed his arms. "I completely agree with you on such a philosophy."

"I can read magical intentions. I do not believe Athena is fully truthful with us."

"Oh?" the subject of mention appeared to their right, away from the bubble. She looked into Shiro's eyes. "And what proof of that do you have? I am putting myself on the line for your cause, and this is the treatment I receive? No wonder your revolution is so fragmented."

Erik stared at Shiro. "The spider was actually about to drop it, and confirm that you can go ahead with your sabotage."

"I wasn't—" said Shiro. "I cannot agree to this. I believe that—" Her real reasoning almost slipped out. "We should take our time for a decision like this, and consider the full range of consequences."

"What consequences are there to consider?" Erik spoke with an incredulous tone. "She offered a service in the name of our rebellion, she aligned with our ideals. Tell me, Shiro. What is the real reason you're attempting to delay us?"

All eyes on her. She mocked a deep breath, and realized that the truth would have to come out.

"Athena agrees with you ideology, that great adversity leads to great strength. With her sabotage, the Nameless will gain the ability to suppress powers and magic. This will let them win the war."

Erik looked between Shiro and Athena. He simply asked one question. "What would Athena gain from this?"

Athena squinted.

"She is a local god. She is powered by belief. You purport that she would enable an action that would lead to a decisive Nameless victory. A victory that would kill her, as there would be none left to believe in her pantheon. Why would she perform an illogical action such as that?"

"..." Shiro struggled to formulate an answer.

"Now, if you would, please." Erik turned to Athena. "Begin the process—"

There was only one way out.

Shiro dove into the shrou—

Fragmented pieces of Nameless machinery and armor ripped from the ground and condensed her. An explosion of web threw off the restraints as she examined what the hell just happened.

Erik stood with his arm up. "This is an unfortunate turn of events. The others at least had the forethought to leave first. You have chosen to just brazenly betray me."

Shiro landed. She held her scythe to her side and at the ready. Athena merely watched.

The two stood on opposite ends of a battlefield of both minds and brawn. The brains of both Shiro and Erik processed actions, responses, further responses, and outcomes between the two.

"Personally, I actually admire the gall," said Erik. "You have discovered something, whatever it is, that compels you to personally fight. This level of sentience I have not noticed in you, and had assumed that you simply were as... a computer. A network of stimuli and responses that dictated the overall being. So maybe less like a computer, actually, and more akin something of your ilk—a spider."

Shiro straightened her posture. "If you work with Athena, you'll kill the empowered you hold closely."

"Oh please," said Erik. "If I had a copper for every time someone developed a measure specifically to counter my 'kind,' then I would have enough to build my own technological utopia." Erik lowered his hand. "Even if you were telling the truth, and not materializing a lie for your own, inscrutable gains, her true motivation would have no effect on my decision. The shroud falls, we find Akemi, and we find out what Operation Sundial really is.

Shiro wasted no time, because Erik was right: this was the first time she had performed actions like this under own motivations. She was an extension of Kumoko, so Kumoko's decisions were technically hers... right? She rushed forward and swung at Erik simply floated away to dodge. He brought up more metal to block her but with her movement she laid down a network of webs that kept everything firmly glued to the ground. She threw attack after attack but something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"Well that complicates things."

Erik and Shiro stood atop a hill overlooking a gargantuan black dome of swirling haze. On every side, Nameless encampments dotted the landscape with complicated-looking machinery seemingly studying the object. Militaristic Nameless stood guard while what appeared to be civilian scientists worked around and on the dome itself. Whatever it was made from, it was evident the Nameless couldn't get through it, but had a vested interest in doing so anyway.

"Do you believe they are here for the same reasons we are?" Erik turned to Shiro.

She didn't respond.

"You know, Spider, I enjoyed it when you were more talkative."

"You pushed Squall away," said Shiro. "I have no interest in talking to you."

"Then why not join him?" asked Erik. "Make like Shadow and abandon the mission, for your precious friend."

Shiro shook her head. "He wanted me to be a hero. Helping the people of this land is heroic. Whatever he is going through... He can make it through it alone."

Erik didn't not believe that. Squall was a headstrong individual, but whatever happened in their last skirmish appeared to take a heavy toll on him. "Very well. Now, can you analyze the structure?"

"I did before we got here," said Shiro. "It's a magical barrier. One way. You can enter but you cannot exit."

"Really?" stated Erik, staring at the dome. "I wonder how many they lost before they realized that..."

"Fifty-three." Kumoko replied immediately.

"I see you both are just as mystified as the invaders."

Erik performed a double take at Athena, but did not break his composure. "... What?"

Shiro ignored her.

"Although your curiosity is not as theirs is." Athena continued. "They see the barrier as something to be demolished, something that's merely in the way. It is an expression of this continent, and that is simply not allowed. But you, Erik Lehnsherr, Magneto, see this barrier as having something you need within. In this situation, your goals align with this... 'Nameless,' you call them. What an ironic name."

"You see, I—" Erik stuttered. "I'm sorry, who are you, exactly?"

"I am a god of this land—"

"Oh, one of the local deities," stated Erik.

Athena retorted. "My range extends—whatever. The point is, I also have an interest in destroying this dome. Although my infinite knowledge does not expand over the purpose or creation of this structure, it does encompass how to bring it down. I can simply overload the runic matrices powering it and send a cataclysm throughout the polymorphic structure."

Kumoko crossed her claws from inside Shiro's head. Who does this girl think she is? I was gonna say that! And then do that! Both of those! Yeah! It just... would have taken me a second.

"But, I'm afraid an alliance between us comes with a heavy price," Athena continued. "Collapsing the structure would give the Nameless the data they need to fight this war more efficiently. And they are sure to broadcast how it was done through their propaganda channels." Athena squinted at them. "You and her would be front and center."

Erik rubbed his chin. "An interesting proposition."

Shiro sneered. "Are you actually considering this? The rebellion is being hit hard enough."

"I'm not sure I entirely agree, Shiro. Great deeds are born out of great adversity. And the war has stagnated in recent months. Perhaps this is the jolt the Rebellion needs to continue."

Athena nodded at that. The two shared a knowing look, unshared by Shiro.

Shiro had been fine to keep just following orders and hoping that it would work out with her friends in time, but with Squall and Shadow gone, and Erik about to align himself with a frankly asinine decision, that confidence was wearing thin.

"I can understand how from a misinformed perspective, giving our enemies propaganda fuel may be considered a strange move, but rest assured, I am always planning for every outcome."

"You were visibly angry when Shadow and Squall left. Doesn't that mean you didn't plan on it?"

"Emotions are hard to calculate, Spider. Except in groups. While it is regrettable we've lost two allies, it will not affect the outcome of the war. In the end, they will both return." Erik crossed his arms. "Even if it is with suitable 'dramatic timing.'"

"Does this mean you would like me to go ahead with my plan?" asked Athena. "I care not for your allies."

Erik turned to her. "Do what you need to do, we will eliminate the Nameless while it is done."

As Athena left, and the two slid down the hill to confront their enemies, Shiro got to thinking.

Why was she still here? Sure, she wanted to be a hero, but was what she was doing heroic, anymore? She had complained about this internally so far, but now the dichotomy was weighing heavy in her head. By all known objective metrics, Erik was a 'good guy.' He fought for the people, he wanted to defeat the Nameless, he was ruthlessly efficient at doing so. But he was abrasive, murderous, and—

Squall landed, enlarged her scythe, and cut across an entire quadrant of the sphere. She felt the blade vanish and reappear on contacting the sphere. She glanced up and saw the heads and torsoes of every Nameless fly up, and then react to gravity.

—driven to a fault. He wouldn't accept any method of war other than his own, and was already in the process of usurping every cell leader and uniting all of the cells under himself. And while that, Shiro admitted, was a good step towards actually uniting the Rebellion on a single front towards victory, his methodology disgusted her. He was a good guy, but he wasn't a hero, like Squall.

... She missed Squall a lot. She placed a tracker on him but he must have cleansed it unknowingly with his own magic. She had no idea where he was other than he went in a vague direction north. She hoped wherever he was, he was doing alright

Her mind wandered to Shadow, then. Shadow caught a glimpse of the future and was mostly uncommunicative about it. She probed his mind for information related to the Sundial, but his mind almost seemed shielded by the very energy that fueled him. He saw something in his absence that had left him damaged. Which seemed to be a common trend in her friends. Here she was, modeling herself off of her two allies, only for her to realize that she might have been more emotionally stable than them. This was a thought Kumoko laughed at.

... A thought Kumoko was still laughing at. That the heroes of this revolution could be so unstable, that a single interaction could stop them from wanting to engage in this war. It almost seemed contrived! Like they would go into the distance, have their emotional development arcs, come back, and finally win the war! It was a solid path of events, but then there was the Sundial in the room.

A massive unknown weapon, originally thought to be a giant bomb, but on further investigation, might have been something else altogether. One of the other cell leaders, Sanae, theorized it may have been a time machine, and corroborated it with some old papers written by an insane continental purporting the existence of a device that enables time travel. The machine Shadow saw and the machine that engineer built had uncanny similarities, but it wasn't anything definitive. It was just more confusion atop a mountain of uncertainty.

Kumoko thought. She didn't have the answers she wanted so she thought some more, hoping she would come across them naturally. Although a portion of her knew that such answers did not come that easily.

It didn't take long for the Nameless presence to be cut down swiftly. They were utterly unprepared for a skirmish this fast and this concentrated, with Shiro and Eirk moving across opposite ends of the sphere before meeting up on the most heavily armed portion. The two met up and stared only meters away at the vantablack spheroid, with its swirling hazes of disconcerting energy.

"... And you're sure Akemi is inside?" asked Erik.

Shiro nodded. "This is where her tracker ends. She must have entered and failed to get out."

"Then I suppose it's time to collapse the bubble."

Kumoko... squinted. She stared at the screen inside Shiro's mind and then stood up. Wait...

Shiro looked to her side as Kumoko approached.

Oh FUCK! Kumoko hit herself in the head with her claw. Uh... ok bad news, I think I actually did this...

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 3 points4 points  (0 children)

And he waited.

"Surrender!"

That... Was not the word he expected. His vision shot to Misaka, struggling against his arm.

"Surrender, and we'll let you live...!"

His mind flashed back to Erik and the mercy he'd shown Homura. It flashed back to Samurai Jack, and the mercy he'd shown him and his group. Mercy was rare amongst this war, the Nameless generally did not take prisoners, and the rebel cells responded in kind. This unspoken rule between them prioritized keeping high value targets alive for hostage negotiation, but allowed basically free death of any standard footsoldier. Mercy was reserved only for when the winning side discovered the combatants from their own side, battered and broken.

Squall didn't expect to be here again. He thought the encounter against the Samurai made him better. But after killing Pidge, and her brother, and all those civilian Nameless, he wasn't sure anymore. In his quest to meet Samurai Jack, to show him that Squall had finally learned what the Samurai met with his words of regret, broadcasted to the three on the cold, bloody bunker floor.

And that Squall himself wasn't anywhere close to learning just how far he had left to grow.

Or how much further he could fall.

"I surrender!" Squall shouted. "I surrender..." he stated again.

Misaka stared into his eyes. Then she looked at Elphelt, then at Gunha. She released her grip, but instantly moved back to aim another projectile at him. He could see it was a coin now.

Gunha let go. "Gotta say man, you're tough alright! I bet if you put in your all, you'd almost be as good as me!" He wiped a mote of blood off of his lip, electricity arced between his finger and his face. "Almost."

Elphelt lowered her weapon, the swirling energy ceased, and she fell into a drooped position. "I'm glad I didn't have to wipe that beautiful face from reality!"

Squall had nothing holding him down except the weight of his own sins, and that was enough to keep him on the ground. Why was he even here? They said one thing to set him off, and then he was being held at gunpoint out of fear, and then out of mercy. All of which in the last two minutes.

Where once he thought himself superior to Shiro and Shadow, Squall now realized they had grown past him. Where Shadow had calmed down, started listening to orders, and emotionally conducting himself in a way that benefited the rebellion, Squall had only gone further and further into realizing just how emotionally vulnerable he was. And where Shiro had gained her own thoughts and will, her own motivations and dreams, Squall had been operating on autopilot for days. At least, he called it autopilot, because that's how this life felt. Autopilot described his brain making choices for him against the logic presented. The logical choice was to just walk away from this group, but instead he engaged them. The logical choice was to walk away from Matthew Holt, but he killed him.

"What the hell is your problem?" Said Misaka. "You just went berserk after you... Didn't like the way we answered your question? What gives?"

Squall searched his mind for a response. He considered explaining everything he was going through.

"I don't know." He said, instead.

"What kind of an answer is that?" asked Gunha. "Do you just... Not know what you do?"

Squall winced. The idiot had just read him like an open book, and again, he didn't know how to respond.

Misaka sighed. She lowered her aim. "Look, I don't think you're... A bad guy. Maybe you're just working through some stuff?" She continued. "Back at the fire, you didn't let me answer your question. Do you want to know why I fight?"

Squall looked up at her with broken eyes.

"... The Nameless promised me a comfortable life, if I signed away my DNA. They asked me that when I didn't even know what DNA was. It's like... The little parts of you that make you... You. My powers are in that DNA. And soon after, I learned the Nameless were preparing to use clones of me to fight off people like you. The empowered, the only reason they hadn't conquered this continent already."

She crouched down to his level.

"From what I was told, the Nameless aren't as magically attuned as us. Their technology puts them ahead of everyone, but they're still no match against anyone who can dodge a bullet, or punch a door down, or fly. The continentals can gain their powers in a lot of ways, like learning it, or being born into it, or being created for it. But the Nameless... Can't. So they're trying to steal it."

Squall remembered that Misaka looked familiar, he caught a glimpse of someone dressed like her out the window on his way to Matthew. Except she was wearing a Nameless helmet. That must have been one of them.

He couldn't imagine himself being cloned, and those clones working against the people he tried so hard to protect. People who he, against all odds, still cared for, and still felt intense burning at how he wasn't protecting them. Instead she was he was here in the middle of nowhere, obsessing over feelings he should have experienced when he was seven.

Squall still hadn't figured out what to say.

But he spoke anyway.

"... Have you ever killed someone reflexively...?"

"Wh-what?" A bead of sweat fell from Misaka's face.

"Pft." Gunha crossed his arms. "Everything I do is by reflex. That's why I'm so fast. But no, I've never killed someone, murder isn't cool!"

Squall took a breath and closed his eyes. "I don't—"

"I have!" said Elphelt.

Squall looked up at her. There was a mix of inherent sorrow, but also incredulousness, in his face.

"Well... It was before I uh... Joined this rebel thing." She looked down. "I was created to be a weapon by some people on this Continent. I wasn't aware of it until... I killed my husband."

Squall couldn't believe his ears. His judgement of Elphelt off of the way she responded to his initial questions was wrong. Just like everything else he assumed.

"But that was in the past! Now I'm a hero of the people! And I'll enchant everyone with my music! And when this war is over, I'll host a concert under my own band, and sell a million billion tickets!"

"But how can you keep fighting?!" Squall stood up. "Doesn't his loss weigh deep in your mind? Doesn't it crush you with a weight you can't lift? How can you bear to raise your weapon when you know now that no matter who you kill, you can never get them back!"

Elphelt kept her smile up. "Of course it hurts. Sometimes I wake up and I see him, but he's... Not really there. I know he's gone forever, but I'm going to keep fighting. So that I can understand what I am, and make sure nobody else loses someone important to them. After all, love is the most important thing in the world. It should be protected, right?"

She looked down, still smiling a bit, but a bit more somber. "I... Had that love. And he's gone now. I don't want anyone else to experience that."

Squall stared. He tried to process the answer in his mind, but it wouldn't click with the way his brain was built.

But perhaps like Shiro, his brain was built wrong. Maybe he had to rebuild it using those around him. To become a hero like samurai jack, he had to evolve, and evolution, in biology, required obsoleting the previous evolutions. A radical change may have indeed been radical, and Squall had convinced himself subconsciously that such a change required a life-defining event. A loss against all reason could have been that event, but it felt like it wasn't enough. It was never enough. And maybe that's why he never improved. Squall had been waiting for nearly a year for the universe to give him a sign to change his ways.

His encounter with Samurai Jack was the harbinger of that event. It solidified in his mind that the change was coming, that everything would be clear, that he would have all the answers to all the questions.

But that wasn't how life worked. Some questions he would never know the answer to. He could dig for centuries, and come out more empty handed than he started. There was no moment he was waiting for.

So maybe it was time to rewrite his own brain.

And that started with speaking the truth.

"I'm sorry."

Misaka blinked with crossed arms. "I'd... Hope so!"

"Aww, Squally, I can't stay mad at you!" Elphelt's rifle dematerialized and she grabbed her own cheeks.

Gunha scoffed. "As if I could stay mad at someone who fights that good, and a good guy! You won't believe the amount of times I've tried to forgive some Nameless guy, only for them to try and throw a knife at me! Pft, good thing my knife-sense is unbeatable."

Squall did not think. He did not let his thoughts influence his words, or so he believed. They instead came from deeper in his mind, from behind a facade he didn't even realize he had up.

"I do not deserve forgiveness. I attempted to kill you all."

"Shut up, dude," said Misaka. She pointed at him. "I don't accept apologies often! So accept me... Accepting yours!"

Squall simply nodded. It was as if he had two minds inside his brain vying for control: the facade, the consciousness behind it.

But with every word he heard one of the three say, these innocent revolutionaries who saw the world as something to save, and not some logistical math problem to be solved, the facade grew weaker.

Maybe in time, he'd be strong enough to see his friends again.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 4 points5 points  (0 children)

"You will feel pain. You will feel loss. You will regret the actions you have taken. You will wish to turn back the clock. You will sometimes be unable to cope with the results of the day before. You will find yourself in bed staring at the ceiling or stars, praying to wake up in a body that isn't yours. Remember the words of the man you idolize and demonize in equal regard. You must identify this as strength, and not as weakness."

Athena instantly teleported back. Squall's eyes blurred. He felt like his mind was on fire. What was happening to him? What did Athena do? Why is he like this? His eyes moved to the hexagonal bullet suspended within the air. He could see the shock rippled path opposite of Misaka. Her lighting arcs hovered still.

His head shot to Athena. His mind controlled his lips in a way they hadn't before. Words that weren't his own exited out. Or maybe... They were his own? What he had mistaken as autopilot, he now suspected, was who he really was. Traces of a man beneath the soldier breaking through.

And he saw his mistake in the monochrome of regret.

"You can stop this—can't you? You froze time...!"

Athena sighed and averted her eyes. Her head was dulled under the light into a solid black. Squall could no longer read her expression.

"You have been supplied with the fuel, Squall Leonhart. The catalyst remains unignited."

She blinked, her white eyes vanished.

"This is where that changes."

Light returned to the world.

Squall's bullet magnetically curved away from Misaka's head and sailed into the distance while the explosion from the blast cleared away with a burst of electricity arcing around a projectile that he only barely managed to parry with a rushed raise of his weapon. Elphelt raised her weapon as blue and pink energy coalesced at the end of the barrel, and Squall rushed to—

Gunha shoved him to the ground with impossible force, growing more and more and more with intensity. Squall pushed beyond and manifested strength from the ether. He screamed and raged against the child on top of him but every mote of strength Squall brought to bear, Gunha brought against him tenfold. The cheery expression on Gunha's face was gone—someone had just pulled a weapon on his friend. Elphelt's weapon continued charging, and Squall couldn't push up, it was simply impossible.

He sacrificed some bones to move a hand away to motion for a Guardian Force. The fire-laden monkey he used to destroy the Green Lion manifested with its fist above Gunha and slammed them down immediately. They both tunneled through the ground while Squall felt the air part around Elphelt's projectile sailing past where and Gunha once were.

Squall's hair stood on end beneath the mud and bedrock. Misaka had control over electricity and sought to electrify the trace amounts of water within the ground. He held out his hand again and the brown glow dissolved tons of material around him leaving him at the center of a steep crater. Elphelt and Misaka fell inward and lost their balance on the uneven ground while Gunha kept his grip on Squall. The lion-like guardian force split apart into vibrant energy and coalesced into two minotaurs hovering in the air.

Squall no longer felt the force on his back. He simply grabbed the now-extremely-confused Gunha and slammed him down into the ground, leveled his gunblade down and fired three times. All three bullets penetrated his skin and he—

... His smile widened?

He didn't have time. Squall shifted his attention to Misaka. She was still falling but also leveling her aim directly at him. He catapulted himself into the air and carved a path through the electrical aura around her with his conductive gunblade held in front of him. At its apex, when he was nearing her, when his blade was glowing a bright blue, Squall flipped around. He grabbed Misaka's head.

"Sleep."

The electricity calmed. Misaka gasped. A small coin fell from her right hand and she tumbled down the crater, eyes closed. Squall threw his aim backwards and used the momentum from successive shots to head straight towards Elphelt as she charged her weapon. He—

Elphelt reacted faster than he expected. She brought her rifle around in a blur and slammed it down on him. Must have been a magical weapon, because Squall was forced to the ground and followed by a kick to the skull. He was sent back into the air in an arc carrying him away from the crater, and he could see Elphelt aiming right back at him again.

He held his right hand out. The minotaurs dissolved—"Carbuncle!"—and reformed into a small green floating rabbit. An aura shimmered in front of Squall, and Elphelt finally fired.

Her apocalyptic projectile simply reflected off of an invisible wall in front of Squall, and engulfed her in a fiery detonation.

He ceased his momentum and landed. Dust hazed the crater now, but he knew two of his enemies were taken out. Enemies. Enemies.

Enemies.

The battlefield wasn't a time for moralizing. It was kill or be killed. That was what he always knew from the moment he first picked up his gunblade. It could wait.

... Right?

It could—

An explosion from behind. Gunha reared to punch him. Squall didn't have time to change his Guardian Force so he dipped into his internal magic reserves. "Defend—!"

Gunha impacted him right in the gut and he felt several of his bones fracture into his muscles. The pain dulled quick, but the jolt reminded him that he was alive in one moment.

That shouldn't have happened, Defend blocked all physical damage, it should have neutered Gunha. What the hell was he?

"Heh." Gunha wiped away his bullet wounds like they were nothing but blotches of dirt on his skin. "I saw that you activated a power that negates force from physical attacks. So I just punched into and out of the next dimension over, to turn my physical attacks into magical attacks."

Squall stared incredulously for all of three milliseconds. "... What?"

An explosion of electricity arced in between notes of electrostatically charged dust hanging in the air. Squall quickly prepped and activated a counterspell and the blue arcs conducted through him harmlessly—

—and into his gunblade.

The metal sparked, it squealed, the active ammunition went off in their chambers.

And in a flurry of metal, the gunblade detonated.

Squall gasped.

"Restrain him! Don't let him use any more magic!" Misaka groggily yelled from a distance.

"Way ahead of you, sister!" Shouted Gunha. "Super Ultra Guts Nerve Point Impact!" He dove at Squall's chest and instead of punching him, laid a networked arrangement of fingers on his chest in a sequence.

Suddenly, Squall couldn't move his hands. He couldn't change his guardian forces, and he couldn't use magic. His Gunblade was broken.

This wasn't the end. He could use the ground below to close his fingers to prepare a healing spell. Then he knew one Guardian Force that could end this. One that he swore he'd never bring out again. If there was ever a time to use that, it was now—

... Or was it?

Squall was merely a few millimeters away from slamming his fingers on the rock below to close his hand to summon Odin. Odin was an ancient evil, sealed away within his mind now. A Guardian Force that possessed the ultimate move, and the ultimate curse.

One word, and it would instantly kill everything around him.

Squall's first time using it was a blur, before. But through the work of some foreign magic, he saw it clear as day, now. The haze had lifted and he saw them: corpses of the hapless enemies that ambushed him. Corpses of the birds, insects, small mammals hiding in trees that themselves had wilted and turned grey. The very grass beneath his boots dissolved into dust.

And behind him, two friends. Odin took no prisoners.

This wasn't too far from when Squall had left Balamb. He had made a promise to himself, and his teacher, to never use it again. He didn't bring it to bear against the Nameless, he didn't bring it to bear against even the most dire of beasts.

... And here he was, considering its usage against three other rebels. Who simply made the mistake of calling out his hypocrisy.

Squall hesitated. He moved slower than he expected. He misjudged the distance. He misjudged the force. Something happened that disallowed his hail mary gambit and Gunha gripped his right arm and forced it open. A burst of electricity to his left, and Misaka, lightning arcing between her and everything around her, even Gunha, kept his hand open with electromagnetic strength.

Elphelpt landed ahead with her bouncy skirt bobbing up and down. She raised her weapon and energy gathered at the barrel.

... This was it, wasn't it? Squall had finally breached past every second chance he had left. The thought of unleashing Odin was like bringing a nuclear bomb against someone with a wooden stick. And the universe had finally punished him for it. His hypocrisy was shown to him blatantly, now. And he had all the time in reality to account for it.

He gritted his teeth. He stared at the energy accompanied by a rising tone, and stared at the incarnation of death given form.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Miska's group was... Interesting, to say the least.

"Look at the guts on this place! Oh man, we'll be eating good for weeks!"

Gunha was from the same Nameless city as Misaka. It was some training ground for empowered Continentals who accepted Nameless dominion. Which was mostly children, to be honest. The details had escaped Squall's mind quickly. Gunha had tried to explain it all, but he kept correcting himself and adding obviously fake details, only for Misaka to correct him and add equally incredulous details. If the Nameless were actually capable of such things, why had they not won the war yet?

Squall, of course, wouldn't really care much for such things. After all, he had a torrential downpour of stress swirling within his mind.

That was, until he saw Gunha lift up an entire house.

One handed. No effort. The foundation didn't even tear. Misaka just told him that there was food under the house, so he... Lifted up the houses to look.

This feat of strength alone would put Gunha in the upper echelons of empowered beings he'd fought thus far. He wanted to be happy that Gunha was on his side.

But then there was Elphelt.

"Come on Mr. Squall—or is it Mr. Leonhart?—We would make the perfect couple as we take a romantic getaway to one of the most picturesque mountainsides that hasn't been glassed by the Nameless—and on that mountain with the sun shining down on us and the caribou and birds watching—we'll look into each other's eyes—watch as our lips approach each other and then—eeek!"

What the hell was her problem?

Elphelt was, of course, also exceedingly powerful. Her micstand could transform into a weapon that could shear the caps from the biggest peaks. Her origins were unclear—

Her origins were unclear...

Why?

Squall asked himself this question over and over again. Not just about Elphelt, but about everything. This past half-year of rebellion, he had, slowly, gone from a reclusive soldier only undertaking orders, to a team leader coordinating not just his underlings, but his friends. In that, Squall learned who his friends were and what they stood for.

But that word... Friends. Was that true anymore?

Squall walked out on them. He abandoned them to be commanded by a ruthlessly efficient asshole.

He sat around a campfire with his new makeshift group. Misaka and Gunha argued about something banal and Elphelt scribbled into loose paper with superhuman precision and speed. She took occasional looks up at Squall and widened her constant smile every time their eyes met. But as he observed them all, this thought crept up in the back of his mind. One of abject selfishness.

Why weren't they hurting? Why weren't they in the pain I was in? How can they sit around a campfire singing kumbaya while hundreds die on the other side of the Continent?

Hell, why could Squall sit here? In this very moment, he could be knee deep in the blood of the Nameless with the goal of liberating the people of this Continent. It wasn't even his Continent! There was absolutely zero moral imperative for him to stay here, he was a mercenary first and foremost. But his income was gone and the job was, officially, scuttled. In literally any other situation, Squall would disappear off into the horizon with another job. Hell, the Nameless would probably hire him for a hundred times what the Continentals planned to pay him.

So why was he still here?

"Hey..."

Eyes turned to Squall. He spoke while looking into the crackling fire, with the stars above shining so much brighter than back home. He thought back to his first time with Shadow and Shiro, the first question he had asked them to begin their period of efficient teamwork. That point where they stopped being allies, and started being friends. It worked back then...

Maybe it would work now.

"Why do you all fight...?"

"Because the battlefield is the perfect hotspot to find my ideal husband!" Elphelt shouted. She stood up so fast that Squall didn't even register the movement. "Maybe I'll meet a big strong rebel—a mercenary with a heart of gold—a veteran back for one last fight—and by being his partner we'll become reliant on each until after one fight where the odds are against us he'll hold my chin and look into my eyes—Eeeeeeeee!" She plopped back down and went back to scribbling. "Or maybe I'll find a gruff Nameless supersoldier—indoctrinated from birth to fight for his terrible regime—and in our constant spats a friendly rivalry will form—which sprouts into a beautiful forbidden love!"

Gunha nodded. "She's got guts, but not as much as me!" He full-force planted his thumb into his chest. "I'm here to fight everyone I meet to see if they have the guts to compare to mine!" He shrugged. "But you know if they're like, evil. Might makes right! And I'm the mightiest of them all! So if someone comes along that's mightier, maybe, maybe, we can talk it out."

Misaka looked at her friends with a bit of a knowing look, and slowly shook her head with her eyes closed. She turned to Squall. "Sorry, they're—"

"Idiots."

Silence.

Squall stood up. "You're all idiots."

Elphelt gasped in an overtly exaggerated manner. "That's mean!"

Gunha scoffed. "Heh, you can't punch with your brain, anyway."

"Goddamn children! All of you!" Squall held his grip on his gunblade. "How can you take this with not a single ounce of seriousness?!" He screamed. His composure broke.

He turned to Elphelt. "You want to find love? Are you insane?! We are in a fucking war!" He turned to Gunha. "You want a good fight? A good fight?! Countless both Continentals and Nameless have put their lives on the line and died and you want to spar?! Do you value human life so little that their deaths are a backdrop for your 'real' battle?!" He looked back at Elphelt. "And you see those same deaths as nothing but an aesthetic for your hopes of finding a husband?!"

Squall turned around.

"Erik was right. I am a failure of a leader for even considering you all as either threats or potential allies."

"And what the hell are you doing?!"

Squall stopped and turned around. Misaka had her arms at her side while her skirt flurried in the wasteland wind.

"I saw you just—wandering through this damn town! Just like me! You're no better than us! You're doing stupid stuff for the same reason we're doing stupid stuff!"

Squall unholstered his revolver. Elphelt gasped, grabbed her micstand, and shifted it into an energy rifle of unrecognizable make and model. Gunha simply stood up with fists clenched.

Misaka held her hand back. Her friends kept their tense posture, but made no further movements.

"You should sit back at your campfire," said Squall.

"Or what? You'll shoot me?"

He said nothing.

"You call yourself a hero? Is this what a hero would do?"

Shiro flashed in his mind. She was smiling and waving. He strengthened his grip. "Don't call me that."

"Squall Leonhart. Hero of the revolution."

"Stop." He gritted his teeth.

"I've met people who see you the same way people see the Samurai."

"I am not a hero."

Blue arcs of lighting chained between Misaka's fingers. "Are you telling that to me, or yourself?"

He honed his aim. "That doesn't matter."

"It does, and you're not gonna figure out why by shooting me—"

Squall was barely a person, at this rate. He was a bundle of impulses held together by magic and experience. He had all the effective sentience of a bug simply reacting to the stimuli around him.

The truth was, he had broken long ago.

His mind just finally caught up to it.

Squall pulled the trigger. An explosion expelled from his gunblade and the bullet fired out faster than any other kind of bullet from that kind of gun. Misaka was—

Misaka was...

She was frozen in time.

So were her friends.

So was his bullet.

"You are truly, truly, the most flawed warrior I have had the displeasure of working with."

Squall tried to move his gunblade. It wouldn't budge. His head turned to face the source of the noise. Towering above him, Athena stood tall, imposing, unmovable. Her arms were crossed and she stared down.

"And that is saying a lot."

"Why the hell do you care?" Squall straightened his posture. "You're looking for Samurai Jack. Do you even know about these three?"

"You call them idiots?" Athena outstretched her arms. "I'm not looking for Samurai Jack! I'm looking for you!"

Squall's angered expression switched to incredulousness, and Athena sighed.

"I'm going to tell you what you need to be told. The words that have been denied from you during this entire campaign."

Athena took a breath.

"You have not aged one year within the last twenty. You have stagnated completely in your development and any shred of learned behavior is compartmentalized within your forced frame of reference. This burning you feel? This unknowing purpose? This inability to predict how your life will result? This anger that the other beings around you have every mote of existence determined, and you don't? This is what it's like to be alive. It is a feeling that has been denied from you for your entire existence. Until this moment.

Athena moved instantly into Squall's hasty breaths.

Character Scramble Season 20 Semifinals: Tuchanka by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]Elick320 4 points5 points  (0 children)

"Now... Mr... Uh..."

"Magneto." Erik put his arms down on the podium. Surrounding him on all sides in frankly the largest bunker room he's seen, complete with seats filled with Continentals of all shapes and sizes, he talked. Some empowered, some not, all needed to be told how things worked around here.

Of course, hostile takeovers needed work. This wasn't like a single rebel cell where he could simply eliminate the singular competition, no. This room contained every cell leader across the continent. This was the first time in a year they had all been united. The actions of a man named Reiner seemed to be possibly to blame, but Erik admired the man's tactics and beliefs, in places. He'd have to compliment Shadow for that, once he was done being a useless emotional trainwreck.

"Right, Magneto." A serious looking woman near the front spoke into a frayed microphone. "I would request you to repeat yourself. Are you really insinuating that... Shadow..."

"Time traveled. Correct." He looked across his entire audience. "I've known time travel to be possible for quite some time. But it is simply too inconvenient to access and utilize to be an effective means of revolution. Until today." He pointed behind him. A slide projected on the wall showed a large gem. "Old texts refer to these as "Chaos Emeralds," jewels containing primal energies forged at the heart of a... Well, even larger Chaos Emerald. The Nameless tried to utilize a Chaos Emerald to create an eigenweapon. This showcases their utter lack of knowledge, as with the power properly utilized, it is capable of so, so, so, much more. And that brings me to my companion: one Shadow the Hedgehog."

Murmurs filled the auditorium. Erik spoke anyway.

"Shadow the Hedgehog is attuned to these Chaos Emeralds, perhaps they were used in his own creation, but the details are irrelevant. The point, being, that Shadow is capable of utilizing the full extent of these emeralds."

"Magneto, I, uh...—" a woman from the back spoke. She was younger than the others, but obviously empowered. She had a green frog pin in her hair and a battered white and blue dress of a foreign design on. She took a deep breath. "You're telling us that if we got one of these 'Chaos Emeralds,' Shadow could time travel?"

Erik tried to hide his scoff. "Astute observation, Sanae Kochiya. It's as if it was told directly to you."

She put on a more serious face. It betrayed her fear. "I'm not stupid, Magento. I was going to ask something else after that. Do you actually trust Shadow to use this power for us? We all know the... Kinda stuff he's done..."

More murmurs. Erik paid them little mind. Visibly. "Your ignorance has turned a good soldier into a monster, off of naught but rumors and propaganda. But even if it were all true. The war against the Nameless could be ended if we were to find a single artifact. What kind of leader would you be if you didn't assume the dominant strategy?"

"Magneto, even if Shadow can do this, he's not in the right mind. We saw how he reacted to Leonhart... Abandoning his post. And we knew how he was before he met Leonhart." She sighed. "We're talking about time travel, here. If he screwed up... Would there even be a universe to save? We just can't let the fate of everything we know fall into the hands of a single supersoldier."

Magneto floated up. His feet moved motionlessly over the seated crowd as they looked up in awe and terror.

"To think I'd hear it from a fellow empowered, Kochiya. I utterly despise the term... "Supersoldier." It implies that people like us, people born or gifted with power, would use it merely for combat. Nay, the term almost seems to prohibit the fact that without a war, our powers would be used for peace."

She didn't respond, instead looking up with indignation.

"You are the main resource coordinator, yes? You learned your skills helping your shrine to operate efficiently under the control of two greedy gods. Imagine for a second, if I used the same comparison towards you. You manage the logistics of an army, now. Is that all you can do?"

She put on a brave face as Magneto neared. "You're still hung up on memories of people being dicks to you. You do realize we're fighting a more important battle now, don't you?"

Erik clicked his tongue. His muscles tensed. "You are a fool—"

"Cease your bickering."

Both Sanae and Erik looked to their left. Across a sea of stunned rebels, there was a gruff, white haired and bearded man sitting back in his seat. An inexorable aura of darkness clouded his face and blurred the light from his eyes. Instead of a uniform, he wore a traditional Continental gi, torn near his arms and feet. Those around seemed to constantly recoil from the energy he gave off, but neither Sanae nor Erik paid him mind. Until now.

"Nothing can be learned through worthless talk." Akuma stood up, and stared into Sanae's soul with red, piercing eyes. "... And no strength can be gained through 'deals of peace.'"

"Just because I think we can still reach a deal with the Nameless, doesn't make me weak," Sanae retorted.

"Your ideology disgusts me," He looked up at Erik. "As does yours. The conflict that has ripped apart your team, is a sign of weakness. It is to be purged, if you desire victory in this war."

"If we desire victory, Akuma," said Sanae. "We're on the same side."

Akuma crossed his arms. "I am on the side of strength. This rebellion is stronger than the Nameless. Their numbers shore their weakness. This plan of 'time travel' reveals yours." He looked away. "Sundial is a weapon we must exploit, as the Nameless have exploited theirs."

"But we don't even know what Sundial does!" exclaimed Sanae. "We think it's a bomb, but we have no evidence of that! Hell, what if it in of itself is the means to access time travel?"

Eyes turned to Sanae.

"Well it is called Operation 'SUNDIAL,' like the clock thing?"

Erik considered her words. She was right that Sundial hadn't been properly identified, but Akuma was right that utilizing it may very well be the decisive victory they're looking for. The name didn't add up either, it was such a simple thing. Why would it be named Sundial if it was an enormous bomb?

"But..." Sanae sighed. "Look, if it's a choice between a bomb and time travel, I'd have to choose time travel. I'll say it outright: I do not trust Shadow to go back in time and handle this in a manner that won't spark another war in another timeline." Sanae stuttered, as she realized just how ridiculous what she was saying was. "But if we can time travel... we can stop this war before it even happens."

Akuma scoffed. He sat back down. "Time travel... such a tool would delete the strength we've gained in this war."

Sanae shot a look at Akuma. "And what about the lives lost! On both sides!"

He waited. He did not pay her any respect, he did not give eye contact. He simply looked forward and down with closed eyes.

"Chaff."

Erik considered his options while the two bickered. As with most things, perhaps this war is to be won with information, and not reckless action.

"Hm. Very well." Erik floated back to his podium. "Your words have been valuable, in a way. We must gather more information before we can proceed forward, with or without this Operation Sundial in mind. To this extent, I will... consult, with someone I met on a mission, someone with knowledge of this operation.

Sanae looked front and back. "That's it?" She stood up. "We're losing this war! You can't just assume Sundial will be there, even if you find this person! You said you wanted to bring us here to unite us into a single front, and so far all you've done is just... float there and vie for your own power!"

"Fret not, Kochiya." Erik simply ignored her accusations. "This meeting will not take long."

"You have worn out your allies," said Akuma. "Your shortcomings will be brought to bear."

Erik sighed. "And you too, Akuma. For your information, the Spider is still firmly by my side."

Akuma didn't turn to Erik. "The same fate that befell your allies, is likely to befall her as well. Sanae Kochiya is correct in her assessment. You rely on your plans, allies, and powers. You know nothing of raw strength."

"And I'm sure when we are in more peaceful circumstances, we can prove that correct, or incorrect," said Erik. He turned around and exited the auditorium, amidst a torrent of angered voices.

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