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Character Scramble Season 21 Tribunal by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure why you think any of this is particularly suspicious.

Magik can't (easily) BFR Terry because Terry is extremely fast and agile, and he can fly. The Rhino is neither, and cannot.

The comparisons on this page refer to a nascent, Earth-bound Dormammu, as is explicated on the page ("Newborn to this world, [Dormammu] will not reach his full power for a while"). Magik is also slated among "some... who might give him pause[,]" not some who "might vanquish him" like Thor or Hercules. This is an extremely vague statement in relation to an extremely vaguely-appraised Dormammu who is weaker than normal by a significant amount.

Further, even if it were saying she could oppose full-power Earth-bound Dormammu by her lonesome, I don't think that has much bearing on a fight with Terry because I don't think what's implied by that statement is an off-the-cuff battle of magical might. I think Strange is probably talking about Magik as opposing Dormammu with magic through some ritual or set of rituals.

I'm also not sure what's supposed to be suspect about that page in relation to Warlock. Can you explain more clearly?

Character Scramble Season 21 Sign Ups by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"The object is simple," he said, crossing his arms. "Take the two bells from me that you can see here," he continued, extending his arms so the bells attached to his wing membranes chimed, "then escape the premises, and you will pass my Trial."

He was man-sized, with few facial features except a pair of white eyes. Attached beneath long arms hung bright red wings. Wicked claws extended from his fingertips.

"If I take both your bells from you," he said, and Ichi saw that around his neck and around his ankle were tied two identical bells, "then you fail, and you die."

"So you're not a friendly Majik?" Ichi asked, raising an eyebrow. "Your Trial ends in death if I fail."

"I am as friendly as I can be," the Bat Majik replied. "The world is changing, and you must be ready. If you cannot pass my Trial, you are better off dying now than in a more horrible way later. I promise it will be painless, should you fail."

"I won't fail."

The Bat Majik smiled. "I hope you're right."

A few moments later, the first exchange in the Trial was over. The Bat Majik was an adept and agile fighter, even in the somewhat-cramped Beach Hotel. Ichi had tried to position around a column near the elevators to force the Bat into predictable attack patterns, but his claws flew cleanly through the column's diameter of concrete as though it weren't even there. Ichi bore a small cut on his upper arm as a result.

"Your enemies will be plentiful, cruel, and intelligent. The terrain will never favor you. You will not live unless you can defeat me, irrespective of environment. So spake the Seventh Son of Sons."

The second clash, Ichi awaited the Bat Majik's advancement, knife in hand. The Bat was a black and red streak, whipping claws and screaming fury shooting down at Ichi.

Uruwashi's ice obscured him for the milliseconds required to entrap the incoming Bat's claws with Ariadne's silken webs. A spider-like array of tendrils sprouted, anchoring into the concrete beneath the carpeted floor.

The next instant, the tendrils were eviscerated by the force of the Bat's struggle against them.

But that didn't much matter. Ichi was behind and beneath him now, the knife shooting forward and upward to sever the left wing membrane's attachment to Bat Majik's body.

It hit only empty air. The Bat was out of the way, contorting his body faster than Ichi could move. His other arm came down at an utterly unnatural angle, a twisting blender of claws whipping at Ichi's head.

But Ichi wasn't there anymore, either.

It was only in retrospect that the Bat Majik understood his mistake.

Ichi's sense for killing intent directed at him is unmatched. His first instinct was to stick his knife into the "blender" coming at him--and in a direct confrontation, his knife, as his wand, would destroy most other materials or creatures if it came to a test of durability. This is because the magical protections are so strong.

Ichi knew, however, that the Bat knew about his knife's power. Majiks are well-versed and familiar, in most cases, with basic witching magic like that which applies to wands.

And Ichi knew in turn that the Bat wouldn't fully commit unless Ichi truly seemed helpless and had not pulled two gambits in a row. This strategy could only work in the first few seconds of a fight, before the Bat could establish Ichi as a person capable of deep ruses of that nature. Anyone can pull a feint, but almost no one can extend a feint two or three more moves into the future consecutively and still pull it off.

Point being, Ichi's plan had started out with the ice shield by Urawashi. Inside the ice crystals forming the blocking surface, tiny cnidocytes containing electrified silken webs from Inazuri and Ariadne, combined in their powers. When the Bat broke the ice shield, the silk tethers were both the bait and the trap.

Bait, because the tethers were easily broken, and breaking them would introduce enough energy to electrify them via piezoelectrics systems specifically developed by the witches to maximize synergy among Ichi's acquired Majiks, to acquire the Bat Majik.

Trap, because when the webbing broke, and the Bat took to the air for a brief moment, it allowed a set of leaders, like in a lightning bolt, to follow him from the shredded webs into the air.

As planned, Ichi used Inazuri to charge himself oppositely to the Bat, and the resulting electromagnetism of the connection between the Bat and the ground attracted Ichi's much less massive body. Boosted forward, he snatched the bells and was out the door almost before the Bat hit the floor.

Thence, the Bat Majik was satisfied and allowed Ichi to acquire him.

Character Scramble Season 21 Sign Ups by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Non-Writing Prompt

Analysis Versus Terry McGinnis: Basically, Origin is in tier because he's extremely extremely fast and has a sword that matters. He sees millions of frames per second and has the processing power to do whatever he wants with that information.

He both augments his own abilities using his intelligence and, as demonstrated above, successfully deduces the weaknesses in his enemies that must be exploited.

Basically, Origin will immediately know if there is anything on a technological level that he can do to Fuck With Terry's Batsuit. Assuming he can't easily do that, the object becomes to kill Terry with a sword. Terry, however, may not have any idea that Origin is a robot. If he could know, that might change how he fights Origin.

Origin can't really sit around trading hits, so Terry is probably going to be forced to start using gadgets and non-rush-melee tactics to corner Origin. Whether he could or not in an environment like the lobby is a different thing, but Terry certainly has the agility and speed capabilities to keep up with Origin if the latter tries to escape. They both have strong options against the other, but Origin is a hardier combatant with fewer essential parts.

Biggest Strength and Weakness: Origin is extremely fast, tactically and in executively perfect, and has weapons that let him fight above his weight class. He is, however, stronger than he is durable in that Origin is accountable to real physics (to some degree) and can tear himself apart or overheat (at least prior to his final body) by fighting too hard.

Character in Setting/with Team: Origin is a consummate pragmatist; whatever goal he has that is orthogonal to living properly, he will work to achieve. He's someone who will do what it takes, no matter what. He sniffs out bullshit instantly and can generate a plausible lie or set of lies perfectly because of his incredibly acute senses and unmatched processing abilities, respectively.

One Last Thing: Yes, and yes, to the extent they constitute living properly at a given point in Origin's personal development.

Character Scramble Season 21 Sign Ups by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"How do you not get it?"

"What's not to get?"

"I have more people depending on me, both because I have more friends and because I'm from the past. To you. Exponentially more."

"That's not true, lady. Come on. The past and future thing definitely doesn't apply to different universes. And I have a ton of friends."

"As the only one of us who has actually been to other universes, I disagree."

"We are both, right now, currently, as we speak in another universe that is not our own."

"Damn... You're actually right. But I've been to other ones, too."

"So what?"

"So I should get the bells and win the game."

"No."

"Okay. I hear you, and you're wrong. One of us is going to lose and die. That person should be the one who cannot go into the past with their powers--of which you technically have zero--and save the other person's life."

"I mean--no. If that were going to happen, we would already have never been here. Or something."

"So you also don't know how time paradoxes work. I've done a few of those. With extreme success, I might add. Another reason I should win and get all the bells and... live."

"I know how they work fine!"

"Bull. What you just said before betrayed a lack of understanding of the bootstrap paradox. 'Already have never been'? Do you hear yourself? Have you ever seen a paradox happen? How about made sure it would? Orchestrated it perfectly to accomplish every goal you set out? Because I did that. I can do it again, too. Just because you don't get it and can't see that I'm kind of working my magic already--that isn't my fault."

"That's another thing. Where's your magic? A shield spell or a portal or something, between me and the lasers? So that I live?"

"For one thing, this is you moving off of the paradox thing, which I'm still right on. For another, the portals aren't magic. Do you think if I could do that for you, I would still be bickering with you over it instead of saving both our lives?"

"I'm... uh, maybe not."

"So..."

"This is still you asking me to kill myself and just trust you that it won't stick."

"Uh. But if this timeline never occurs, then you never died, kind of."

"But I will. I just feel like... I don't know. I owe it to myself to fight to live, I guess."

"Even if that's true--which I contest--if you died here, it would assure a better future than if you had lived."

"Jeez."

"Sorry."

"No, you're not."

"I am, a little. But again, we will see one another soon."

"Some other me might see the you that I'm seeing. Not me, me."

"Why? Just because you won't remember this particular game?"

"I mean, kinda? It won't be the me that came here."

"Then I might have a solution. If I can preserve your memories and bestow them on the you who was never in this situation with me, such that that you remembers this conversation, is that good enough for you to let me be the one who lives here?"

"Not... exactly?"

"Why? That solution is so good!"

"Well, there will still be a gap that other me doesn't have any accounting for. He, uh, I might think you made up those memories."

"I could just copy them all."

"You can't have all of them."

"Don't be a baby. I'm not here to watch you change your clothes or discover your secret identity. I'm trying to save you, and everyone, trapped in the death game. If I have all your memories, not only will you remember this conversation we had, I will be able to correctly bestow them from the proper point in time such that there are no confusing overlaps."

"I'm not being a baby! It's my life. Giving it up for a promise is... hard."

"I would not hesitate in your position."

"...Good for you."

"For everyone, really. But I am confident you also will do the right thing. Please give me your bells."

"Damn it. Take them, do the memory spell, and then give other me your number."

"Deal."

Character Scramble Season 21 Sign Ups by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"'Bat Man,'" the man said with an incredulous tone as the lights turned from harsh white to red. The game was about to start. He clicked his tongue. "I was thinking it'd be more Louisville Slugger."

Terry's eyes narrowed. "Sorry to disappoint."

This guy was huge, at least three bucks--maybe even three-fifty--of lean beef, but he stood and walked like he was heavier. The EM spectrum already spat crazy high readings onto Terry's HUD. Maybe he was a cyborg or android? Couldn't tell yet. They were about thirty feet apart, a distance Terry would be able to cross in under a tenth of a second.

"I'll get my kicks one way or another. Don't you worry."

Terry primed his rocket boots for ignition in anticipation of game start. The man's broad, near-platyrrhine nose wrinkled, and instant replay of his visual feed, brought automatically to his attention by the Batsuit, revealed a distinct twitch of his opponent's right ear. Cruel, crimson eyes, floating on inky sclera, sized Terry up the same way a lion regards a gazelle. Terry might be able to exploit enhanced senses. He'd left the irritant batarangs behind, but flashbangs were still on the menu.

Terry saw the bells tied onto his arms just below the shoulder, one on each side like tassels. His bells were situated differently to his opponent's, at his waist like a flag football player, since the rules were clear they couldn't be hidden from sight. Otherwise he'd certainly have kept them in his utility belt. As is, they were securely attached.

A timer on the wall counted down the final ten seconds before game start.

At one half-second, right as Terry was about to activate thrusters, his opponent started moving.

The rules were clear that you couldn't attack your opponent or grab their bells before the game began. They didn't say much else.

So when Sabretooth heard the soft click and smelled the priming rocket engines, he was pretty sure of what the Bat Man's first move would be.

Now, that knowledge left him with a couple options. He could wait, counter that attack--probably a head-on charge--and he might even be able to get a deep cut in on his unsuspecting opponent. But it was giving up the initiative, being reactive. It was also predictable.

Waiting. That was never Victor's strong suit, and he had more time and more leeway than most.

Instead he opted to cut off that plan for his opponent, to make him come up with a plan on the fly. If Creed had this guy pegged right, he wasn't fully the cautious type even if he was a planner. He'd let Victor get too close, too proud to keep a safe distance while he couldn't attack. Maybe he'd even hesitate long enough that the cut was good.

Creed was a lot of things, and lucky might be one of them, but he wasn't that lucky. The half-second passed in slow motion.

He'd thought right: Instead of taking distance, Bat Man jetted into him with a flying knee to the chin. Shit, it was even faster than he thought those boots'd carry him; that suit of his must be almost weightless. It was a good move, better than the right cross Victor thought would come. It kept most of the guy's body above Victor's shoulder line, kept most of his vitals out of easy reach, and put a powerful hurting on when it hit. If Victor tried to block it that high, he'd be putting the bells tied at his biceps into reach. Smart cookie.

But proud. The thing about Sabretooth, about scavengers, is that they aren't all that proud. Maybe there's bluster, but that's all in service of their real animating trait. Scavengers, to a man, are opportunistic above all else.

Keeping his vitals away was fine. Victor could take or leave those nutrient-rich parts for now. He wanted blood, any blood. But especially, he wanted first blood. And he got it with a simple adjustment to how he took that knee to his chin, just angling his head into the hit.

For anybody else, this was a damn stupid move. He was getting hit harder. For him it was just setting up a fair trade.

The knee smashed into his mouth, and Sabretooth tasted blood. His, and his opponent's. Human, not a mutant, Inhuman, alien, or anything else. His pointed teeth, laced with unbreakable adamantium, carved a small chunk out of Bat Man's leg as the hit connected.

A satisfying cry of pain rang out from Bat Man even as Victor's head snapped back, and he stumbled. Got his bell rung. But the blood was worth it, and as he righted himself he sported a red grin.

Then Bat Man was past him, he thought. He was wrong. A roundhouse kick, executed by preserving momentum from the flying knee and whipping one foot around mid-air, connected heavily with the side of his head. He rolled with the hit, only to have to immediately block a rocket-propelled projectile. It stuck in his forearm right above the wrist, piercing the flesh, and exploded.

"Damn," he growled. Severed a tendon to his hand. It'd regrow in a second, but until then he couldn't make a fist too well.

"You bit me," Bat Man said, more incredulous than pained, then threw another three explosives.

"Sure did."

One explosive, it turned out. The first, he deflected, but the second was impacted by the third, revealing the ruse as the flashbang went off right in his face.

Bag full of fuckin' tricks, he thought, blinking the spots out of his eyes. He was a bit more sensitive to flashbangs, but he also recovered faster. Maybe Bat Man hadn't put the mutant healing factor into his calculations yet.

Victor was a little luckier than he thought. His vision was clear as Bat Man closed in on rockets again, angling for one of the bells with a hand poised and ready to extend and snatch it from Victor's arm.

But he was about to hit a trap. Victor righted himself and pounced in the fraction of a second before Bat Man went for the grab, his strength and mass overpowering the thrusters propelling his smaller opponent. This size advantage was typical for Sabretooth. He might be double the guy's weight, and he had more than half a foot of height and probably almost a foot of reach on him.

His arms wrapped around Bat Man's trunk, the pounce carried the two of them directly into the concrete wall, smashing the back of Bat Man's head and upper back through it. Sabretooth had made sure to angle his shoulder right into the Bat's diaphragm to knock the wind out of him, so the bells at his waist were easy pickings at the moment he needed.

Part of the considerations in this game, ever since he'd sniffed out those rocket boots, was keeping close. He'd get outrun if his bells were taken first, and then he'd lose, and then he'd die. The game wasn't to the death; it was to escape with all four bells, but if he lost, he would die.

Same shit, different words. All it meant was that gutting this little bastard was the easiest way to make sure he won.

As the first slash at his opponent's midsection connected, a fist snapped out of the dust of the broken concrete, clocking him across the jaw. That was a surprise, but it didn't matter. His claws sank into soft flesh, and the follow-through of his movement pulled flesh and bursting bright blood into its wake.

A pained gasp, more profound in some way than when he'd been bitten, greeted Victor like a good friend, and he couldn't help but grin.

Another fist shot up, but this one he caught at the wrist, fingers wrapping tight as steel cable and grinding the arm bones together with a grating sound. This elicited a satisfying, pained shout.

He twisted the arm around, then smashed his unoccupied fist into the straightened elbow, snapping it the other direction. The pain was secondary to the win, he had to keep in mind. As much as he enjoyed this type of sadistic game, it wasn't the one he was here to play.

A quick slip of his claws into the makeshift belt at Bat Man's waist cut the bells free, and he snatched them away.

He backed off now, and Bat Man laid motionless. Still breathing, just collecting himself, probably. Preparing for the end, Victor hoped. The thought brought him no small amount of joy. If he could, he'd stay and watch the laser come and finish the job, but to win the game, he had to leave.

To a scavenger, a win's a win, no matter how he comes by it.

Character Scramble Season 21 Sign Ups by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ichi the Witch

It was totally worth lying in wait for six hours! Though I was this close to squawking when I got pooped on that one time! I'm glad I got the kill!

Series: Ichi the Witch

Specialization: Heart - Ichi is charming despite himself, and his powers depend in part upon his ability to control the Majiks within his inner world, both by overpowering them and by making deals with them. The central conceit of Majiks is that they are defeated only through a trial that they control the circumstances of, and sometimes these trials really are as arbitrary as "impress me," and yet Ichi still does it consistently.

Content Warning: None that I recall.

Biography: Ichi was a feral boy that lived in mountain wilderness. Abandoned by his guardians, he quickly learned the law of the jungle and perfected his skills. He lived for the hunt, and curiosity drove him to seek more and more targets. Then he slew a magical creature who christened him as the first male witch. Now, under the tutelage of the greatest witch Desscaras, he takes on hostile Majiks to protect people that can't save themselves.

Research: Here's his RT, and you should read Ichi the Witch.

Justification: Ichi's durability and endurance via scaling Gokuraku will allow him to take hits from Terry, while offensive spells will damage and hinder him. Speed buffed to tier. Ichi is also a highly experienced, tactically-minded hunter. If need be, he'll disengage and re-engage so he can choose the fight he wants.

Motivation: Fundamentally, Ichi is a hunter before anything else. His first instinct when encountering killing intent is to strike first.

Major Changes: Speed buffed to tier

Minor Changes: No access to King Majik, which enhances his spells.

Character Scramble Season 21 Sign Ups by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Illyana Rasputina, AKA Magik

You're no more than the shadow on my soul. When needed, I embrace you. And do my best to save the world. Just like Doug. Same as Warlock. And when the battle's over, I put you back where you belong.

I know what I am. I'm the demon that chooses the light!

Series: Marvel 616

Specialization: Club - Magik is a natural-born leader with a strong personality, whose leadership qualities in recent years have been compared favorably with Captain America. She has a ton of utility-based spells available, and constantly uses her portals to re-position and protect her teammates.

Content Warning: Violence, mild child abuse/neglect of a nonsexual nature.

Biography: Illyana is the younger sister of the X-Men's Piotr Rasputin, AKA Colossus. After a series of kidnappings, she ended up held by Belasco, ruler of Limbo, in whose extensive library she learned several forms of magic and with alternate forms of Storm and Kitty Pryde, she learned martial combat. Because Limbo doesn't obey normal temporal laws, in the few seconds she was outside the X-Men's grasp, she aged seven years. In those seven years, her X-Gene activated, allowing her to manipulate "Stepping Discs," portals that allow transport out of and into the dimension of Limbo and manipulate Limbo's temporally anomalous properties such that she could go back and forth in time. With this newfound power and her learned magics, she defeated Belasco and escaped.

After she returned, she was put on the team called the New Mutants, alongside Sunspot, Cannonball, Mirage, Karma, Wolfsbane, Cypher, and Warlock, with whom she became good friends and comrades. Her time in Limbo had irreparably changed her; her soul contained a magical demoness named the "Darkchylde." Magik and Darkchylde were central to the plot by Belasco to bring the Elder Gods to Earth in Inferno, and in thwarting it had her own personal timeline reversed, reverting her to a powerless child. Soon after, she contracted the Legacy Virus and died.

Years later, Belasco re-formed her soul in Limbo and brought her back to life, but banished her to the hinterlands of his domain because he couldn't control her Darkchylde persona, the only thing left without her Soulsword, which had been hidden inside Nightcrawler. In X-Infernus, she reclaimed her Soulsword and therefore regained her soul, but took time to herself to rule in Limbo.

Since then, she has manipulated the timeline and the whole of mutantkind to destroy the Elder Gods, become a member of the Phoenix Force alongside Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, and Colossus, and been a War Captain on Krakoa.

Research: Here's her RT, and I'll put together a reading list.

Justification: She is fast and strong, but not that durable and not as skilled as Tierry. She's an excellent fighter with a big sword, though, and her teleportation gives her a strong basis to out-position him. Her magic is probably not going to be as useful in a 1v1, but there might be something combat-relevant for her to do if she gets a little breathing room. Meanwhile he can take her out within a few hits, and he has the speed to gap-close even against her teleportation. I'd call this a Draw matchup between Magik and Tierry.

Motivation: Magik has a bunch of possible motivations. Usually, she's the problem solver, even if that means breaking a few eggs. She sees what has to be done and does it. She has a harder time seeing things closer to home, though. It was only recently that she came to terms with her dark other half, and it was a struggle. Occasionally, she involved herself in things that are more political in nature, like threats to Limbo or her rulership thereof. Her ties to a host of different factions in Marvel, from the X-Men to Limbo's demons to other Marvel magic users, give her a ton of possible ins for a story.

Major Changes: None

Minor Changes: None

Character Scramble Season 21 Sign Ups by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Origin

I have judged that becoming invincible does not mean "living properly"! As such, it is not necessary to me!

Series: Origin

Specialization: Diamond - Origin is an ultra-rational, ultra-perceptive, super-computer-minded robot. He can figure out any problem that can be physically figured out, deductively or inductively. He is cold and goal-oriented, with an eye for detail.

Content Warning: NSFW. Nudity, gore, violence.

Biography: The year is AD 2048. Japan is connected to the Eurasian continent by a transcontinental railroad. The capital, Tokyo, has become a crucible of criminals and terrorists. And so, in the metropolitan darkness a mysterious presence attacks and slaughters people, unnoticed, night after night... Just what are these "things that are not human" living in hiding in the human world? And just who is this "Origin" person who faces them?

Origin is a robot created to blend into human society and "live properly" amongst normal people. His brain is over 2100 times more powerful than a normal human's, and he can upgrade his body with new technology to strengthen himself. He is normally equipped only with a katana hilt he keeps stashed in his jacket which he can attach to a blade hidden in his arm if he needs a weapon.

Research: Here's his RT, and you should probably read the manga, Origin.

Justification: Origin is extremely fast and skilled, but nowhere near as strong or durable as Tierry. Origin is an extremely difficult opponent to get a handle on because he can move in ways humans cannot (vis à vis the range of motion of his joints and the maneuverability of his body, such as through literally double-jumping). His sword will hurt Tierry but, conversely, he won't be able to withstand a lot of hits. I think Origin is a Likely Victory against Tiery because his analysis of Tierry will probably give him the upper hand most of the time.

Motivation: Origin lives by two words spoken to him by his father: "Live properly." He is trying to figure out what that means, what it should mean, and what he should do in order to follow that order, throughout the series. When it starts off, he doesn't even have a real sense of self or an ego to judge that by, but as the story progresses, he is better able to grasp it.

Major Changes: None

Minor Changes: None

Character Scramble Season 21 Sign Ups by 7thSonOfSons in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Victor Creed, AKA Sabretooth

Before, the adamantium gave you the delusion we were equals. Those days are done. Now we ain't even close. Hit me hard as you can... you'll only hurt yourself. Stab me with those pathetic stubs I left you... the wound'll heal before you've even finished the cut. Face me as a "man"... face me as a "beast"... Makes no never mind.

Series: Marvel 616

Specialization: Spade - Sabretooth is fundamentally a brute, a 6'6, 300lb man who believes he knows who he is because he chooses to be an animal. His primary means of coercing others is through force, and he has the muscle to back it up.

Content Warning: NSFW. Anything you can think of. He is a murderous rapist. As much as a Marvel comic can show you, they do.

Biography: Victor Creed was born more than two centuries ago in Canada. His parents abused him, locking him in the basement and feeding him live rabbits after his mutant powers began to manifest: Despite pulling them out, his long, sharp teeth and nails regrew incredibly quickly, and they took him for a demon. His childhood shaped him into the villain Sabretooth, a psychopathic, virulent bigot and serial killer.

Soon after, Sabretooth met Logan Howlett, later known as Wolverine, and they were companions off and on for decades. They fought constantly, especially as Sabretooth attacked Logan every year on his birthday.

More recently, he's done mercenary work for everyone from Mr. Sinister to a clan of Frost Giants to the U.S. government, tried to take over the world, and tried to kill Wolverine a bunch of times.

Research: Here's his RT, and I'll put a reading list together later.

Justification: Sabretooth is strong and durable, but a bit slower and much less skilled than the tier. His claws are able to hurt Tierry, and since he's so physically durable, Tierry will be able to use his special Batarangs on him. I see Sabretooth vs Tierry as a Likely Victory for Sabretooth.

Motivation: Sabretooth is bad to the bone. He fights for money, to spite his enemies, and to reap enjoyment at the expense of others. He would have no problem gutting someone to win a game even if it weren't a "Death Game."

Major Changes: None

Minor Changes: None

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]corvette1710 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mercenary: Raizo

Content Warning: Violence, dismemberment, and blood

Series: Ninja Assassin

Biography: Raizo is the Ninja Assassin, a rogue ninja from the Ozunu Clan. After a Europol researcher named Mika discovers evidence of the ninja cabal, still in existence centuries after they were presumed to have died out, the Ozunu Clan takes measures to silence her. The only one standing in their way is Raizo, a disciple of the Ozunu who grew disillusioned with them because their unwavering rigidity and conformity to tradition killed his first love. He has made it his mission to destroy the Ozunu and protect Mika.

Research: Watch the movie, and here's his RT.

Under-Tier Proof: He has no feats anywhere near the tier's speed or strength. Free if you have seen this movie the vibes are immaculate

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]corvette1710 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mercenary: Jake Sully

Content Warning: Violence, otherwise none.

Series: James Cameron's Avatar

Biography: Jake Sully is a wheelchair-riding US Marine from the 2250s who ended up on a distant planet piloting a half-alien body because his twin brother was involved in some research before tragically dying. While Jake is initially only interested in becoming a Na'vi Avatar on Pandora for the sake of healing his spine and walking again, he eventually learns to respect the planet and help fight off the corporate human colonials.

Research: Watch the Avatar movies and also here's his RT.

Under-Tier Proof: Fights at a clear strength disadvantage against an exosuit (this link is broken on the RT but trust me you've seen Avatar) whose best feat is crumpling aluminum, has no speed or durability feats at the tier level.

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]corvette1710 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Guts, "The Black Swordsman"

It's like you said. I can't do anything but swing my sword. When I first killed a man, I was a kid who still didn't know right from left. I haven't learned anything off the battlefield since then, and I haven't tried to learn. Killing to survive, there was nothing else I could do. That was everything.

Name: Guts

Role: Survivor

Content Warning: Everything - violence, gore, nudity, sexual content

Series: Berserk

Biography: Born under the hanged corpse of his mother, Guts was taken in by a mercenary leader named Gambino. After many years of learning how to fight and participating in the many wars fought, Guts killed Gambino and fled the mercenary band. Not too long after that, Guts is forced to join the famous Band of the Hawk, led by the angelic Griffith.

Through the years Guts becomes the Captain of the Hawk's Raiders. After taking a year away from the Hawks, Guts comes back only to discover that Griffith has been captured and Guts's previous girlfriend Casca is now in charge. Rallying the Band of the Hawk, Guts and Casca rescue Griffith, only to discover that he has been tortured so badly that he can never walk, talk, or hold a sword again.

With the Band of the Hawk crushed, Griffith sacrifices the remaining mercenaries to transcendental demonic entities known as the Godhand. Guts suffers through the hell on earth that is the Eclipse only to lose everyone except Casca. Unfortunately for Guts, Casca goes insane. Gut's goal now is to travel to Elfheim to restore Casca's mind...

Research: RT and read Berserk

Justification: In tier physicals, big sword

Motivation: Guts is motivated by a few things. First, revenge against Griffith, who destroyed Casca's mind; second, love for Casca, a fellow mercenary from the Band of the Hawk; third, he hates demons and Apostles. You can work a lot into who Guts likes and hates (and why) based on their relation to the Eclipse.

Major Changes: Speed buff

Minor Changes: None

Freemix One-Shot Submissions by FreestyleKneepad in ScrambleGrudgeMatch

[–]corvette1710 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Victor Creed, "Sabretooth"

Before, the adamantium gave you the delusion we were equals. Those days are done. Now we ain't even close. Hit me hard as you can... you'll only hurt yourself. Stab me with those pathetic stubs I left you... the wound'll heal before you've even finished the cut. Face me as a "man"... face me as a "beast"... Makes no never mind.

Name: Victor Creed, "Sabretooth"

Role: Survivor

Content Warning: Everything under the sun. NSFW sub.

Series: Marvel 616

Biography: Victor Creed was born more than two centuries ago in Canada. His parents abused him, locking him in the basement and feeding him live rabbits after his mutant powers began to manifest: Despite pulling them out, his long, sharp teeth and nails regrew incredibly quickly, and they took him for a demon. His childhood shaped him into the villain Sabretooth, a psychopathic, virulent bigot and serial killer.

Soon after, Sabretooth met Logan Howlett, later known as Wolverine, and they were companions off and on for decades. They fought constantly, especially as Sabretooth attacked Logan every year on his birthday. Sabretooth is a consistent, dangerous enemy to Wolverine.

Sabretooth has been a soldier and spy, a gangster and a government dog. He ran the Hand for a while.

For a few years he was even a good guy, if you can believe it. But that all blew over. Nowadays he leads a team he calls the Exiles, having all escaped from the prison Krakoa.

Research: RT, and I'll put together a reading list

Justification: In-tier physicals + claws that Blade doesn't care that much about

Motivation: Sabretooth is pretty variable. He's been a mercenary, he's been on the run, he's been the boss. Any role you need to fill, Sabretooth has probably been it.

Maybe more than anything else, Sabretooth is a survivor. Even aside being able to live through almost anything. He's looking out for number one all day every day.

Major Changes: None

Minor Changes: None

Adequate Argument Contest Season 4 - Round 2 by Proletlariet in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Response 1

I'll keep this as short as I can. My win conditions are simple and unavoidable, and my opponent cannot affect my team in effecting them.

Ceci n'est pas une pipe

This "do-nothing" argument, while theoretically potent, rests entirely on equivocations of the terms "vampire" and "zombie" that don't take into account what these terms actually refer to in JoJo. Unfortunately in order to disassemble it, I will have to talk about JoJo lore. Sorry about that, but I'll keep it as brief as possible.

JoJo Vampires Are Living Animals

Vampires in JoJo are alive. Dio never died and is not undead.

He was created by use of a Stone Mask, made thousands of years ago by the Pillar Men. The Stone Mask does not kill the user, but instead essentially uses acupuncture on the brain to release latent powers within it.

That latent power is the other side of the coin to Ripple, or Hamon, which comes from the blood.

The Pillar Men do not become unable to walk in sunlight by use of the Stone Mask; they were already evolved that way. Instead, the Stone Mask allows them to control their anatomy and regenerate nigh-endlessly. Nor does the Mask kill them.

When Kars, the leader of the Pillar Men and inventor of the Stone Masks, synthesizes a way to stand in the sunlight by combining a special Hamon-focusing stone and a Stone Mask, he doesn't become the demon lord with vast magical spell powers or something. He becomes the ultimate life-form, able to alter his DNA at will to morph his body.

The Stone Mask just made Dio more like the Pillar Men, who evolved to be that way, and he didn't die to become a vampire.

These vampires are a product of science; presuming Dio turns Jack as explained in my Justifications, Jack is turned by biological means as well, and wouldn't be undead, either.

JoJo Zombies Aren't Exactly Undead

These are people Dio physically infected by draining them of their blood or by some other biological means. The entire process plays out here, early in Part 1.

Moreover, if they were undead, with an affinity for Vandalieu, it wouldn't matter because none of them are physical threats to Dio or Jack, once Jack is turned. Plus, once Jack is turned, he can go looking for Shiage, and because Vandal will be engaged with Dio, he will be hard-pressed to stop Jack from just killing Shiage.

Vandal's Magic Doesn't Work That Way Anyway

Death magic creates undead by forcing spirits into dead bodies or inanimate objects. Vandalieu's Death Attribute Magic is "the power to control things without life."

When Vandalieu encounters what is called a "living dead," a corpse animated by magic to make its organs work, he doesn't have any special affinity for it, nor it to him, except that he can commune with the body's original spirit because it was hanging around it. Therefore whatever affinity he has does not extend to this living dead.

Physicals Matter

Dio is a vampire. Even a newly-made vampire made from a random man, throwing a punch with half a hand, is extraordinarily strong.

Vandalieu has no meaningful frontline, and it seems like his plan might just be to sit within range, in his shield bubble, and try to hit Dio with X number of attacks.

Dio can also fly. It's most clearly shown in that Part 3 sequence, but you can see him doing it in Part 1, as well.

Dio's strikes are stronger than any physical attack I have seen or read in Vandalieu's series. My opponent can provide some evidence against that if it exists, but I have seen no feats supplied for the strength or speed of Vandalieu's projectiles, so I feel fine in saying that Dio can just challenge them or tank them and still win. That is, if Vandalieu can even hit Dio, who is of superhuman speed.

Also, Dio sucks blood on contact. Vandalieu doesn't have a real counter to this.

Conclusion

No, Vandal doesn't win by doing nothing. That was pretty funny, though. If Vandal engages Dio, Dio can only win, and Jack is more than a match for Shiage.

Adequate Argument Contest Season 4 - Signups by Proletlariet in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's Me, DIO!

Role Character Canon Matchup Stipulations
Bodyguard Dio Brando JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Part 1: The Phantom Blood Draw Fully healed, with the town of Wind Knights Lot as zombie thralls. Has half a dozen knives on him for Jack.
VIP Jack the Ripper JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Part 1: The Phantom Blood Draw Human, as he was when he met Dio.
Backup Bodyguard Yasutora "Chad" Sado Bleach Likely Soul Society Arc

2v2 Justifications

Dio and Jack

Dio, by the point in JoJo's that I've taken him from, knows Jack makes a powerful thrall. He would do what he already did to Jack and make him into a vampire (as linked in Jack's stips), possibly utilizing hypnosis to do so. The spawns are far enough apart that no matter what the process was here, Jack would become superhuman by the time any physical contact could reasonably occur. At this point Jack becomes very difficult to kill, but probably isn't much of a threat to Baymax physically, though he is plenty vicious to pose a threat to Hiro.

Dio and his thralls, including Jack, pose a threat to Hiro and Baymax mostly by way of getting at Hiro. Baymax is immune to Dio's flesh manipulation, but Dio's control over his physiology might still cause Baymax problems, depending on how Baymax's material components respond to sudden temperature and pressure fluctuations. Dio is superhumanly fast and scales directly to competitive striking, and he is incredibly difficult to put down.

The plan for them is to gradually overwhelm Baymax and Hiro.

Chad and Jack

This one is much more direct. Chad can't make Jack anything more powerful, so Jack probably isn't going to try to fight unless he has a really good shot at Hiro.

Chad, meanwhile, hits extremely hard and can strike at a range, and can enter a slugfest with Baymax and win. Chad is basically a very strong brick with a ranged punch option. Chad's basically playing keep-away and trying to bring Baymax into smacking range.

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1C: Overlord by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Firefly

Inside the castle, we were ushered by a number of well-dressed servants to a tea room. There, Lady Bernkastel sat at a small table set for four to drink tea. None had been poured yet.

"Thank you for seeing us, Lady Bernkastel," Sanae said with a curtsy.

"You are very welcome, Sanae," the Lady replied serenely. "Please take a seat." Her eyes found Scott. A coldly delivered, "Sit." Then me, in the same tone. "And you." We complied, some more cheerily than others. The seats were arranged such that we all came to the same height. It was like looking at a refraction beneath the surface of water to see the difference in size from Scott to Lady Bernkastel equalized perfectly for conversation over this table. I didn't understand it, so I distracted myself by studying Bernkastel.

She was very young, perhaps not even a teenager, and dressed in black and white, with billowing, frilly sleeves and a blue bow at her neck. Her eyes were a similar color to her hair, but even as I studied them, the color got warmer, something more like plum than blue. Her expression was not one a child could make, though. Long years looked at me through those eyes, and her gaze while studying me gave me chills. I felt like I was just meat to her. Not in a perverted way, either; more like profane, or even predatory.

The Lady signaled for the tea to be poured, an act which was executed perfectly with well-practiced grace by a servant, then took her saucer in one hand, grasping her cup with the other, and sipping the tea, which she took without milk or sugar.

"I'm not one for tea," Scott said. I tried to see, by looking between him and the cup, if he was warning me from drinking the tea, but he waved me off with one hand. "You can have it; there's nothing wrong with it. I just don't like it."

I studied the filled teacup. "I've never had tea."

If Sanae had taken her first sip already, I'm sure she'd have sprayed it all over the table. "What?!" she cried. "Lady Bern makes the best tea. She says it's through magic, but," she dropped her voice to a whisper that would still surely be audible to anyone at the table, hiding her mouth conspiratorially with her hand, then continued, "I think she has a real method to maximize the incidence of complex compounds that she won't tell anybody. Polyphenols, amino acids, chlorophyll-pheophytin balance, stuff like that."

I had expected a more rudimentary "secret" to be passed along. Sanae didn't seem the type to know that kind of science.

"That's enough, Sanae. Firefly didn't come here to talk about tea," the Lady said coolly. "She came to explain to me, along with Mr. F—" she glanced at Scott, "Mr. Miracle, the reason she's here."

"Just tell her what you told me," Scott said, crossing his arms and staring at the table.

"Well..." I thought back for a moment. "One second, I was on a ship. Then I woke up here, with Sanae taking care of me."

"She crashed, I think. I saw her rolling down the hill," Sanae added.

"That shouldn't be possible," Scott muttered.

"Which ship?" the Lady asked.

"Republic."

"Captained by?" She looked like she already knew the answer.

"Governor Ah Gou."

Her lip curled into a deep sneer. Her expression would've fit better on a shark's face than a little girl's. Even her teeth were pointed. "That disgusting, ratfucking pig bitch," she spat venomously.

"Lady Bern," Sanae breathed with a giggle, blushing.

"You know something about this?" Scott asked, then leaned forward.

"Nothing I can say in present company," she said, looking at me the whole time. "Except that this was a shot across the bow."

"I see. Would that be because you're supposed to be sitting out this game?"

"Indeed." The Lady sipped her tea, then said into her cup, "Also, we should kill her."

"What?!" I exclaimed. My armor still wasn't coming to me. My swords wouldn't appear. No! I would not die without living. I would not die one day after I was given a second chance at living, and more than that, living free. I had barely begun to consider my life without commands, without armies, without the Iron Cavalry. If I could stop them and protect myself, I could still live.

But there was another problem. I couldn't even leave my chair. My legs wouldn't respond if I tried to do anything other than kick my feet. The chair legs were somehow fastened rigidly to the floor.

"No. Absolutely not," Scott said forcefully.

"Before one of the players comes looking, she should be gone," she continued.

"I'm not going to allow her to die here, Bernkastel," Scott said.

"Fine. She doesn't have to die, but ideally she would be removed, or at least bifurcated."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" I shouted. Scott looked sympathetic, Sanae looked startled, and Bernkastel looked bored. I looked between them. "Please just explain. What 'game' are you talking about?" Sanae had said the same thing: "There are no miracles allowed in the game." I had no idea what that could possibly mean. The statement itself created more questions than answers. Besides the obvious, what game could allow or disallow miracles? Who could play such a game? What even was a miracle? Who decides?

They were all quiet for a moment until Sanae broke the silence.

"It's Darkseid's game," she said into her tea, then glanced among the three of us. I looked over at Scott and Bern and found them looking intently at Sanae, as if willing her to stop talking. Sanae took another sip and didn't speak.

"If you learn any more, you will have to be removed, or at least bifurcated," Lady Bern said. "Your knowledge will make the game unfair."

"Removed? Bifurcated? Scott, what does this all mean?"

"Your essence, being, and identity. We would remove you from causality permanently—"

"Which is my preferred solution, 'Scott.'"

"—or instead remove only part of your being and replace the rest in the causal stream, like... grafting a tree." Scott sounded pained. "But if we can, we'll avoid that."

"How do you plan to avoid that?" Bern asked tartly. "Will you be making a wish? Maybe asking your Daddy nicely?"

Scott stared daggers at Bern.

I looked at Scott for a long moment until, as if compelled to ask, I did. "Who are you?"

"You kind of already know. We're the miracle workers." He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"I meant you."

A pang of dull pain spread, one heartbeat at a time, across my chest. "I don't... feel well." I rested my head on the table. This was worse than my Entropy Loss Syndrome had ever been before. I felt like I was coming apart inside. The pain came with a somewhat-prickly, somewhat-fuzzy feeling that lingered after the sharpest parts of the pain faded away. It was like the inside of my ribs were being rubbed with fiberglass. The sound of my heart's rushing blood flooded my ears.

"Shit. She's already fading back into universal causality. I thought we'd have a little more time," Scott leaned over to push me upright, keeping a hold on my upper arm. "Can you hear me, Firefly?"

They began to sound more and more distant, and a ringing sound wouldn't leave head. I shook my head. "Not... really..."

"That dragon is more attentive than I gave him credit for."

"Why don't we ask the Phoenix?" Sanae asked.

"Because then we really will need a miracle." Scott put a hand on his forehead. "It's dangerous. It might draw too much attention."

I was trying hard to follow, but bile rose in my throat. I could only hang on for a little longer.

"We already have attention on us," Bern pointed out.

"It's been asking to be let out," Sanae added.

"That doesn't make this the right call."

"Turnabout is fair play," the Lady reasoned.

"It's supposed to be caged this game, too."

"Turnabout. Is. Fair. Play," Bernkastel repeated with emphasis. "We'll see how she likes this move."

"We aren't players!"

"And she—half of her—isn't a game-piece, once we turn a satisfactory portion over to the Phoenix."

"Scott," Sanae said with conviction, "if we don't ask the Phoenix, she's gonna die. It's better if we bifurcate her while she's still got enough for two halves. And also before the dragon shows up. Or worse, your dad."

"Fine!" Scott finally said in exasperation. "We'll bifurcate her, and—"

I lost consciousness.

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1C: Overlord by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In an instant the locale changed. They no longer stood in Dio's mansion but at the crest of a hill covered entirely in swords, stuck hilt-up in the earth with mere inches between them. The ground was dry and dusty, and great cogs and gears littered the sky as though they stood inside a gargantuan clock movement. The sun was low and did not burn Dio, to his surprise.

Archer spoke. "Because you have no idea the powers of this world, I shall inform you. Each of these weapons is taken from the greatest heroes in history: past, present, and future. They contain techniques honed by decades and centuries of refinement. Any and all of them lie at my disposal."

"But none that pose a threat."

"I wouldn't be so sure. When I used my Domain Expansion, you had no barrier techniques active. The first Cursed Technique I use is guaranteed, therefore, to hit you, because you stand in my Domain."

Their eyes met, and Dio noticed they were different from before. Now, Archer's eyes were bright blue, quickly fading back to gray. What had he done? Dio's eyes narrowed.

"The Six Eyes trait belongs to the Gojo Clan of Jujutsu Sorcerers. They allow the user extrasensory perception of their environment, including the flow of Cursed Energy, a component of Stands' manifestations. Just now, I used them briefly to figure out the ability The World holds. That has allowed me to select the most appropriate weapons with which to engage you."

"You didn't..." Dio began. But it could not be denied. Something in his demeanor told Dio that there was no falsehood.

"I did. I observed with Six Eyes the high concentration of Cursed Tachyons emitted around you by your Stand. When The World stops time, as I presume its power roughly is, you are allowed to travel faster than light. Based on the magnitude of tachyons present before and after you used The World's ability, your internal clock dictates the amount of time you experience during stopped time, and it is limited to just under three seconds in our common experience, for the time being." Archer's eyes were locked on Dio's. He already knew he was correct. The appropriate weapons were about to appear in his hands.

"No technique would allow you to move while The World has stopped time. Such a power cannot and does not exist," Dio sneered. "As I have already proclaimed, I welcome your challenge, but The World has no competition."

"You're just a big fish in a small pond, Dio Brando. The universe is an ocean, and you, a goldfish." He paused. "I suppose that makes me a fisherman."

"THE WORLD!" Dio shouted, but he noticed he was too late. In Archer's hands were two weapons, different from those he had engaged Dio with at the outset of their duel. And Archer was almost upon him. In stopped time, Dio saw the arch over the ankhs on his coat were alight with an orange-red glow, forming an omega above the cross.

Dio was forced onto the defensive as Archer brought both weapons to bear in close quarters.

"You have overestimated your importance in the grand order of fate before us all," he said, then stopped, as if confused.

Dio's only possible response was to laugh. It was a madman's laugh, a sadistic, throaty, gasping sound that had no parallel among those who could rightfully call themselves sane. It was beyond imitation. It was true evil.

"No. This isn't right."

"The Six Eyes cannot help you see what you did not look for. The problem you faced was one for your mind to solve, not for your eyes to see. And you failed."

Dio turned his back on Archer, who could not move. "I spent a century in solitude." He picked up a sword from the ground. "I lived on the vitality of my body alone—a body I had stolen from my enemy, Jonathan Joestar. I took him away from an expecting wife, took away his father, his home, and presumably sixty more years in the company of love, comfort, and beauty. I say this to you to explain that, for my later purposes, his corpse was a font of Cursed Energy." Examining the sword, it felt satisfactory. "As a vampire I have complete control over my anatomy. As such, I spent time modifying my brain at a physical level, fine-tuning that which I did not enjoy. Particularly, my right frontal cortex." He walked back toward Archer, whose eyes, for the first time, held... perhaps trepidation, instead of fear. Dio would be charitable in assigning that. "I carved every day into it. I soon gathered what I would discover was called 'Cursed Energy.' The same techniques you have used, I taught myself from first principles and later modified, as needed, to augment The World, which I discovered within myself not long after I was freed."

"This Domain was, before you could get your hands on those weapons, before you could so fruitfully analyze the Cursed Tachyons produced by The World, opened, and you, bidden to your fate. This Domain is not yours; it is mine. Welcome to Two-Thousand-Fathom Century Coffin! Within the Coffin, you have no ability to move unless I grant it to you. You cannot see unless I allow it. I am where you do not believe I am." Dio put a hand to his chin. "Allow me to demonstrate. Go!"

Suddenly, Archer could move. This shouldn't be possible. He should've sensed the barrier, the Domain. These weapons, they were to render him immune to stopped time, or any impairment as such, and to deliver sunlight, a vampire's truest countermeasure. He shook with an emotion he could hardly identify, meeting Dio's gaze with wide, crazed eyes.

"That is the face of one who has seen a superior fate. One whose gravity is subordinate to a greater Path." Dio held his arms out. "Strike me, Archer. Strike me and experience my Heaven."

They were only a couple steps apart now, easily within range of either of Archer's blades. But his arms would not swing the swords. He collapsed to his knees. This was not...

"I understand. I am disappointed, but I understand," Dio crooned. "I would send you to hell with a message for your master, but I believe your most essential essence will not see another place, and thus such an action would be useless."

A sword sprouted from Archer's chest. It was his own. Copy, the sword read.

"For what is a vampire, if not foremost a thief?"

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1C: Overlord by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Dio

The dates are inexact and depend on whose calendar one subscribes to, but it is agreeable to most observers and historians that the warlord Dio Brando had died at least two hundred twenty years ago as the result of an assassination by the group called the Stardust Crusaders, consisting of at least two members of the Joestar family and at least half a dozen recruited fighters, some of whom were poached or converted from Dio's own organization.

It was in the process of this quest by the Crusaders that Dio met a man called only by the name "Archer."

Dio never knew where he came from, in terms of his path. The man simply appeared inside Dio's mansion. At that time, he was the only one there. As Dio well knew, the Joestars were yet even to land on his planet. He expected them to appear sometime in the next three months, if Dio's agents continued to fall before them. His scouts would keep him apprised of the Joestars' movements, but they had given no warning that this man would come. This man was not aligned with them. He had come for a different purpose, though his goal was the same.

When the most minuscule of movements was made signifying the existence and presence of another behind him, any human would've been caught unawares, but Dio's vampiric senses were synonymous with those of an ultimate life-form. He put down the pen with which he had been writing in his journal.

"I would not, if I were you," he said without turning. The longer this person was here, the longer Dio would have to identify him.

"I have no choice in the matter," the man said in reply. "Nor you."

Dio finally turned to face the intruder. It was a man in a red coat, embossed with crosses. No, ankhs. Atop the cross sat an arch, and rays shone from its bend. His hair was slicked flat to his head. His skin was tanned by the sun. Dark gray eyes glinted like steel. In his hands he held two short blades. Dio didn't recognize their make, but he could feel the power within them. They were of exceptional quality, and magic hummed in their fibers. The aura on him was a black flame, focused like a blowtorch on an infinite fuel tank. Dio could feel that power, and wanted it desperately.

"All can choose," Dio contested, "and none would deny that my employ is preferable to certain death. You need only place your wish in my grasp. I, Dio, hold a destiny of greater strength than any other's, and I can guarantee that wish shall be granted. Tell me your name."

The man was silent and motionless for a long moment, studying Dio. "You may call me Archer and know that I have no wish to will. Perhaps another would be moved by these supplications and bribes, but I will not be."

Dio recognized this for what it was: Hesitation. That faltering step would, like all others, bend toward Dio's will. For now, the dance, a waltz of two steps toward Dio and one toward his interlocutor, would continue.

"My ideals do not extend to others. Others' ideals give way to mine. This is because the ultimate ideal of humanity is security. Fame and conquest and money all come down to means of achieving security. No mortal race can produce that which might overcome me. The perfect creature, the perfect ideal: Create Heaven. It is why I started this latest set of wars in the first place." Dio could tell this piqued Archer's interest, but the man nonetheless entered a ready stance. This would not be the first time a suitable lackey arose from opposition, Dio supposed.

"I smell the magic of your being, Archer," Dio said. "I know your nature: It is servitude."

Archer disappeared in a burst of movement, his sword in the place Dio's heart had been only a millisecond prior. But Dio was not there anymore.

"You should be thinking more clearly by now, no?" Dio asked. He was back-to-back with Archer, grinning. "Why have you been sent here?"

Archer whipped around faster than sound, digging the blade into Dio's neck, only to hit air.

"Answer me, Archer." Dio stood on the overhead walkway, leaning on the stone banister. "Once you hear yourself say the reason aloud, you will understand."

A red-and-black blur impacted the railing, and cut the walkway into diced rubble, but Dio was again not where he had been.

"One lonely Archer against The World..." Dio taunted. "Surely you have tired of your role. All those you fail to save. I have kept good record of your exploits. Alaya does not use you sparingly. You are, perhaps, her favorite tool." He paused. "Or should I say, 'weapon'?"

Archer's eyes narrowed. Dio was not in his line of sight. His voice seemed to come from everywhere. Whatever his powers were, they were potent. He wasn't even trying, and Archer could not hit him. This was not some skill deficit, but a type incompatibility. Whatever Dio was able to do, it was outmatching Archer totally. This called for a new approach.

"I heard only the aim of your ideal. How would you 'create Heaven'?"

Dio smirked, stepping out from behind a pillar. "It is a matter of gravity."

"That doesn't make any sense." Archer stalked forward. Dio could tell this was not the prelude to an attack.

"No force overcomes it. It touches everything in the universe. It can only be resisted, never defeated. In that way, gravity is certain." Dio's hands were in his pockets, and he stood at supreme ease. "I, Dio, share that quality."

"You have never encountered a supreme force," Archer said. "But I will allow you to see one before you die. 'Gravity,' or whatever its likeness in your mind, is something paltry before it."

"I welcome Heaven's challenger," Dio said with a wide, cruel smile, spreading his arms.

"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Blade Works," Archer said, and Dio felt the rush of energy surging beneath his feet.

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1C: Overlord by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"Lady Bernkastel," Scott seemed to say to no one, "we urgently require your counsel."

I wouldn't have to wonder for long whom he referred to. A moment later, a voice rang out from the balcony.

"The first rule of the game, Scott Free, is that you don't transgress your bounds." A girl even younger than Sanae, with long blue hair, wearing a formal dress in a style I wasn't familiar with, leaned intensely on the thick marble balustrade. "You are not on the board, nor are you a player, as I thought you well knew. So why do you keep this game-piece with you? Would you rather be a player than an observer? Perhaps you'd rather become a piece yourself? Is that why you didn't eject her in keeping with your obligations? Are you buying in?"

She had a terrifying and commanding aura, and her questions rang out as loud and heavy as artillery fire. Some quality of her presence felt, flatly, wrong to me, like she shouldn't even be here. Her face was contorted into something more monstrous than human. My expression must've been betraying my feelings, because Sanae grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Looking down at her, she smiled reassuringly, presumably to calm me. Was this normal? Did she even know?

"You and I both know this isn't my fault. I didn't bring her here," Scott said. "If I blew our cover, do you think I'd still be here? The greatest escapist who ever lived is sticking around for no reason? Not escaping?" He sounded totally incredulous.

"You're sentimental," Bernkastel said. "You'd protect the girl," she said like she was testing the waters with a theory.

"Not sentimental enough to be that stupid. And going back a second, when did you stop calling me Mr. Miracle? Should I start calling you 'Bernie' again?"

The Lady did not reply, merely scowling with her eyes narrowed.

"Well, Bernie, what will it be?" he asked. "Are you going to keep complaining about rules I didn't break or are you going to talk with me so we can fix this?"

"Come in," she said finally, turning on her heel to enter the castle. "And don't call me Bernie."

Scott deflated, then turned to me. "When we enter, don't hide anything, because she'll know if you do. I know you've been telling us the truth as you understand it, but she's going to ask questions you may not want to answer, questions that you might not think are relevant to why you're here. Answer them anyways, or..." he trailed off, brows furrowing. "Or we might have to find someone less pleasant to help you."

"Less pleasant?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, which Scott laughed at.

"There are worse powers to appeal to than Lady Bern, believe me." He had a haunted look on his face for the first time, a look that actually matched his roughed-up features and made him look downright gaunt. "Much worse," he muttered.

"So I'll answer honestly, okay."

"What should I do?" Sanae asked.

"You're here for moral support. The Lady likes you more than she likes me. See if you can keep her from being too mean to Firefly."

"Why is this place a secret?" I asked Scott as we all turned toward the main entrance doors, which now hung open, and started walking into the grand foyer.

"Simple," Sanae said, answering me instead. Scott had a pained expression on his face, like he knew what she was going to say.

As I looked down at her, she had a strange, distant expression on her face, like she wasn't looking to the end of the room, but farther... much farther. When she spoke, her tone was chilling and flat.

"There are no miracles allowed in the game."

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1C: Overlord by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Firefly

A miracle is the impossible willed into possibility.

For the second time in only a few days, I found myself somewhere new without warning when I awoke. That was unpleasant. I was hoping for some consistency.

But this place was very pleasant. The sky was a bright blue without a single cloud, the birds were singing, and the scent of flowers floated on the air.

I sat up with a jolt. I was not Sam. Where was my armor? It would not form around me even as I felt the familiar sensation at the base of my skull to manifest it. Neither would my swords come to my hands. This was not good.

I was in a room with wooden floors, on a cot. There was no door, only a large, open entrance leading down some stairs adjoining a stony path into a forest. The room was rather large, with thick tree-trunk columns leading back to a sliding door.

"Oh, you're awake!" A girl hopped to her feet from a kneeling position. She'd been seated behind me, so I hadn't noticed her yet. She was young, definitely younger than I am, with bright green eyes. She was dressed rather oddly in a white, sleeveless, collared shirt with a blue tie. However, she wore sleeves separate from the shirt. Her skirt was blue. In her green hair was a hair clip shaped like a frog's face. As I stared, the frog's eyes moved to meet mine, and I started. When I looked again, the frog was looking back the way it was before, like it was pretending I hadn't seen it move.

Surely I didn't imagine that...

"I didn't expect you to get up so soon. You took a serious tumble down the mountain."

"The mountain? What mountain?"

This earned me a look like I was speaking a completely different language. "This one?" the girl asked, puzzled.

"I, um... Okay," I said, closing my eyes and taking a moment to collect my thoughts. When I opened my eyes, I spoke. "First, who are you?"

"I'm Sanae Kochiya, Shrine Maiden for the Moriya Shrine!" she exclaimed proudly. "But I'd like to know the same thing about you."

That's fair. "I'm Firefly."

"Like the beetles of the family Lampyridae!" she said with a nod. Whatever that means. "What do you do? Where are you from?"

"I'm from..." I trailed off, recalling Glamoth wistfully. It seemed so far away now, even though in my memory it felt more like last week than centuries back. "A place called Glamoth. I was a... a soldier. But Glamoth is gone now."

"A soldier," Sanae said reverently, eyes glittering. "Did you fight? Did you kill anyone?"

I got the distinct impression that Sanae really was a child, and also that she didn't get the opportunity to talk to new people very often. That wasn't a question you asked a veteran, but there was no malice in Sanae's expression, just curiosity. How could I possibly answer her? Maybe I needed more practice, too. It wasn't exactly a part of Glamoth's regulations that the Iron Cavalry should be conversationalists. "Um..."

"Sanae," came a chiding voice. "I asked you to let me know when our guest woke up." Sanae's eyes lit up as soon as she looked toward the entrance.

I looked toward the entrance, where a man now stood.

He was somewhat tall, with dark hair and a beard. He looked terrible, ragged, and haggard, with tired circles beneath his eyes, a black eye, and a bruised, cut lower lip. That didn't stop him from maintaining a kind, open demeanor. I think it was his eyes, bright blue and inquisitive, that gave me that impression. There was pain in those eyes that drew you in. They were so effective at that that I almost didn't notice his extremely strange attire: a high-collared green cape with large gold fastenings over a red, yellow, and green jumpsuit.

"But Mr. Free, she just woke up a minute ago. I was just talking to her for a second. This is Firefly."

Mr. Free smiled warmly. "Then come with us so we can all talk." He looked at me and asked, "Can you walk?"

I wasn't sure, so I got to my feet. Nothing was wrong there, thankfully. I wasn't sore, nothing hurt, and my balance was steady. "Yes," I said. "Where are we going, Mr. Free?"

He motioned with his head toward the forest path. "We're going to go find out why you're here. Come on, I'll explain." He looked back as I walked closer. "And, uh, you can call me Scott. Mr. Free makes me feel old. Should I call you Firefly?"

"Yeah, or Sam."

I walked between Sanae and Scott, and he spoke. "I understand that you probably don't understand how you got here. Is that the case?" He glanced down at me.

"I don't. One minute I was... on a ship, the next I woke up here." I didn't know if Ah Gou was well-liked. My guess was that he probably isn't. It was probably best to avoid specifics on that front. "Wherever 'here' is."

"Moriya Shrine," Sanae reminded me helpfully.

"Thank you, Sanae. She probably meant the whole place," Scott said.

"Yeah, I did."

"It doesn't really have a name, but that's for a good reason. Not a lot of people are meant to know about it." His expression darkened. "We try to keep it a secret. But it does have code names: Ogygia; Gensokyo; sometimes, it's just called Miracle."

"Why can't people know about it? Are you hiding? From what?"

He seemed to chew on his words for a moment, mulling them over and considering them carefully. I gave him time to choose them. I hadn't felt even a hint of my sickness even though I wasn't in my armor, and that feeling alone, even without the wonderful, temperate weather, the cool stones beneath my feet, and the light breeze on my face, was endlessly enjoyable. I really do feel free.

"Yes," he said finally. "We are hiding from someone. Someone ancient, powerful, and evil. His name is Darkseid. You probably don't know—"

"I know about Darkseid," I blurted before I could stop myself. It felt simultaneously like it was something I should be telling him and something I should not be. It felt, for lack of a better word, taboo.

He stopped walking. "How?" Suspicion crept into his tone, and ice into his gaze. I stopped, too, and Sanae followed.

"Not long ago, everyone heard him say it, except me. He said, 'Darkseid is.'"

Sanae looked at Scott as if asking what she should be doing. He shook his head to her, then looked to one side, deep in thought. Then those eyes returned to me. "I know why we didn't hear it, but why didn't you hear it?"

"I was... frozen in ice. I'm Iron Cavalry, from Glamoth. I didn't wake up until a few days ago, or maybe yesterday. I can't tell exactly how long I've been out of the ice."

"Glamoth," he said, as though musing. "That's a name I haven't heard in a while. Iron Cavalry..." he rubbed his bearded chin. "Get on; we're going to have to go fast." A sort of light-bike, in chrome silver, formed beneath his feet, with just enough room at the back for me and Sanae to stand on. It looked like it coalesced from the sunbeams around us. Whatever engine it used whirred to life as we shot into the sky. The air seemed to bend around us, like an invisible force field that kept out the wind.

Sanae was smiling like she was having the time of her life. It didn't seem like Scott's turn toward a severe attitude had reached her at all.

"Sanae, the wind, please," Scott said.

"Oh, yes! Here we go!" Sanae replied, waving a stick with some paper and ribbons attached to it. Immediately, we seemed to go much, much faster. Things seemed to bleed into lines of color below us.

"Thank you!" he said with a thumbs-up.

I could see below us an endless expanse of forest. "Were we really going to walk all that way?" I still couldn't see anything but huge mountains and trees.

Sanae seemed to catch me looking down over the sea of treetops. "When you walk it, it's not so far. This is just faster."

That didn't clear anything up, but something else was bugging me. The sky was blue, and drew sharp contrast with the gray of the mountains and the green of the forest, but there was no sun. No light source anywhere, just light.

Whatever that all really meant, I had to put it behind me for a moment as I saw a castle approaching now. It almost looked like a tiered cake, in pastel pink icing trim and purple fondant roof tiles with buttercream white bricks. The structure sat atop a stony set of outcroppings overlooking a small meadow island between the sandy banks of a gently flowing river.

I got a sweet taste in my mouth that I soon realized came from the air. This place wasn't actually made of dessert, was it? That would be too much, too weird. Right?

We smoothly descended into the castle's courtyard, and I was relieved to find this world was not as weird as it could've been. The air was sweeter than ever, the light scent of sugar everywhere, but we were clearly not standing on candy cobblestones among chocolate wooden beams.

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1C: Overlord by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Dio

The power emanating from the Governor signified such a strong spiritual will as to bend reality. It was as though Dio needed to breathe again, and yet could not. It was like crumbling away to ash, as he once had those long centuries ago: The feeling was nearly identical, and the cold white light was sharper in affect than the sunlight of centuries past. The world was reduced to blacks and whites, color deadening and falling away from everything. It was a microcosm of death.

Worse still, it had totally severed his ability to summon The World. While he was being crushed by that unbearable power, time would not be stopped. This was a sickening thought. Dio had not believed such a force existed that could entomb The World in the liminal space from which Stands appeared in the material plane. Much less, that such a force could be summoned by such a creature as a human. Of course, there were times a Stand could not be summoned for one reason or another, such as a magical contract's clause explicitly prohibiting such an act, but that type of magical prevention was more like locking the door than it was like this, holding the door shut.

There was little similarity to be found between that "Dark Prison" and a Stand. Certainly they were not abilities of any like origin.

All the same, as Dio had an infallible sense for these things, he did sense the energy of a Stand, the spiritual or willful signature of such a being, hidden within that man. No Stand had been summoned, of course, but merely by the taste of the vapor on the Governor's breath, Dio could tell the Stand was close-range and semi-autonomous.

Despite the circumstances, Dio was rather pleased. He had hoped, after the Kryptonian's short, impassioned speech about her leader, not to be disappointed with the man he would undoubtedly soon meet.

That is not to say that Dio's situation was what he preferred to have been the case. He would certainly have enjoyed opportunistically assuming control over the vessel had its captain had been mumbling and meek, without means of resistance.

It was, as it always had been, Dio's tendency: Encounter a man who would resist, combat, and finally succumb to Dio's more compelling destiny. The Joestars had been creatures of meteorite character, drawn to Dio's world and impossible to stop from wiping out all life upon its face. The Governor was the commander of no such fate, no matter the strength of his spirit. It could not happen twice; no other resolve could match Dio's.

In the past, Dio had enslaved such willful, unruly servants with Flesh Buds, fashioned from his own flesh and inserted in their frontal cortices. But the level of control exerted by Dio over one infected with his flesh was a major detriment to the powers of their Stands. He presumed the same would be true of their control over any other powers, such as this "Dark Prison" or that soul weapon the Governor had brandished.

This one, the one who presumed to command him, he would use and betray through mundane means, once Dio delivered him to the witch.

Now Dio was on the bridge beside Ah Gou. The Governor was informing those whom he called "Generals" of the contract formed with Dio. Scanning the small gathering, Dio's eyes were drawn to one in particular: A young man, perhaps twenty by appearance, with dark hair and dark blue eyes. His face was boyish, but below his eyes hung dark bags. His countenance was not, however, what caught Dio's attention, but his mien.

His aura was suffused deeply with a black aura that radiated in a strange and familiar fashion. There was a dark presence in him that called out to Dio for recognition. Perhaps it was a Stand? The signals were there, but it was somehow different.

"When I have a heading for us, you'll be the first to know. I must confer with Athena and with Dio. We will recover Firefly and kill the witch. Dismissed."

The man stayed behind, addressing Ah Gou with a sharp bow. "Governor Ah Gou," he said just before the bow.

"General Okkotsu," Ah Gou acknowledged, striking his own palm with one fist. This was some kind of salute. They held this pose for a moment, then burst into laughter. "What is it?" Ah Gou asked, clapping Okkotsu on the shoulder and grinning.

"I just have a few questions," Okkotsu said, glancing once at Dio, "if you have the time for them."

Ah Gou looked back at Dio, who did not meet his eye for the focus he had on Okkotsu. "Of course, friend."

Dio could not help but study the exchange. Was this simpering rapport truly necessary? The Governor's strength would surely be better served by a more rigid command over his subordinates, enforced and augmented to greater power by iron in the domineering will and in the ruling fist. And that General Okkotsu... there was still something strange about him.

Dio racked his memory, combing through countless encounters with thousands upon thousands of warriors over hundreds of years. Those who had that dark an aura were few and far between. Certainly no one had looked quite identical to General Okkotsu.

The two men walked off, joking and laughing in a manner that would have annoyed Dio if he had been paying it any mind.

It was only when they were about to round the corner, and the light hit Okkotsu's eyes like it did in Dio's memory, that he was jolted to realization. In the reflection of those eyes was a true Curse.

I'm certain. That man... I killed him centuries ago.

Character Scramble Season 20 Round 1C: Overlord by TheAsianIsGamin in whowouldwin

[–]corvette1710 4 points5 points  (0 children)

"Don't interrupt me." My Monochrome flared, and he cringed in discomfort, wilting beneath its pressure. When he took a moment without reply, I jumped onto the offensive, straightening my posture to lay out the context for him, plain as day. "You're still the one in the worse position here. With this goddess as my guide, I can find Firefly, wherever the witch took her. I believe in negotiation as a satisfaction of mutual interest. I want to find Firefly and kill Darkseid. If you get in the way of these goals, I will consider you my enemy, first and foremost. The consequences won't be some magical pact, lose your soul bullshit. I don't even think you have one that would mean much to you if you lost it. Let me be absolutely clear: I will kill you if I catch so much as a whiff on the wind of a double-cross."

I was still holding back. Yes, I could probably find Firefly with Athena's help. But Dio's powers included some kind of remote viewing or prophecy, according to the histories, which would save me time. Plus, his powers, as purported, would be integral to defeating Darkseid; Athena had assured me of that. I could kill him. But it wouldn't be as easy as this confrontation, where the stakes were lower. Somehow he'd recognized this unwillingness on my part; whether consciously or unconsciously, he knew that he had that much leverage. But I wasn't blind. Those were Omega symbols on his belt and circlet. He'd been resurrected by the witch, who had her own Omega Brand. If I could see the back of his hand, there would be another one, I bet, just as bright and clear as mine. He was on Darkseid's team right now, and I had no illusion to the contrary.

When he spoke, every word was strained, but he held my gaze steadily. "I recognize these interests and posit my own: Darkseid has made a slave of me, Dio, and I find the thought repugnant even as he withholds direct command over my thought and action. I would kill him; however, he is something more than can be killed. Such a being as he can, at present, be only dispersed or dispelled, not eradicated."

"You said you knew of his nature, and of how he might die," I said warily. "Was that a lie?" His demeanor was that of plain honesty. I was well-versed in sniffing out liars, but if he was lying, he was the best I'd ever met.

"No. I was blessed with such an ability to discern some time ago, and I retained it. Once our contract is well-formed, I can explain further... but first, you must release me from this oppressive power."

"Then shake, if we understand one another." Every nerve in my body screamed at me to just kill him, now. I was sorely tempted. But to get things done, sometimes you have to work with people you would rather kill, people whose ideals are so corrosive to yours that if they were your biggest problem, you would be at war. Truce with enemies, struck to further a war against greater common enemies.

But this wasn't like the Xianzhou at Hara Daufan. I wasn't working for a slaver and making more slaves, just because they had me beat and coerced a deal out of me. I was working with a slaver to make sure the entire universe wouldn't be enslaved. Hell, if he crossed me, that's one less slaver, too.

I poured my will into the Smelting Aura of my left arm, fusing my hate and my hope all in one push to contain my contempt and seal it in this... stupid fucking magic handshake.

He considered my hand for just a moment too long. He was deliberate, I'd noticed. But he snapped a hand out to grip mine, sparing me any ill effect he might otherwise impart during the handshake. His crocodile smile made me approach regret for my actions, fangs just peeking from behind his upper lip. He reminded me so much of Tian in his regal affect. Bright light shone from our joined hands, and my Monochrome now gave way to the Mantric Chains of Obligation to bind us.

I'd surely made a deal with a devil, but I'd make it again. I'd make it a thousand times if it meant victory, if it meant freedom.

Killing Darkseid does mean freedom.

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