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[Sutoratosu Akira]

Raguel vs No Equal
Caridin cursed under his breath as his hunch was revealed to be correct. Immediately, he raised his guard, knowing full well that if the old coot wasn't where he thought he might be, then surely he was sneaking around somewhere waiting for the opportunity to make a follow up. And make a follow up his opponent did.
    Caridin almost didn't notice the brief burst of red off to his side, at least not visually. Rather, his spark itself had been the primary alarm, instantly lurching his attention towards the brief trace of energy it had detected off in the distance, not unlike a hound freshly intoxicated on the scent of blood. Even so, the speed at which No Equal charged forwards left Caridin barely any time to process a decent response to it.

So he didn't.

Steeling his focus on the incoming blade, Caridin allowed muscle memory to take over, guiding Judgement to meet the katana as it swept upwards. Another chink echoed throughout the arena as part of the katana bit deeply into the outer layer of Raguel, but was halted from breaking through to the next one thanks the the sheer strength with which Caridin held Judgement locked with it.

"BWAHAHA! So boy! Tell me!" The wolf white with age barked. "How was the tea?"

"So? How do you like it?"
"Whoa! It's pretty good, mama! What type is it?"
"It's called Jasmine. I'm glad you like it dear~"

Caridin squeezed his eyes shut against the bittersweet memory that threatened to surge to the surface. Tightening his grip, he felt a familiar pang of longing. regret. but most of all, one of hatred. Hatred for how weak and naive he'd been back then, as wee lad. Hatred for how powerless he'd been to change their fates. Hatred for the apparent wall in his growth that he'd been running headfirst into for this long.
     A low hum resonated behind Caridin as his thrusters roared to life, and instantly had their fires cannibalized by his spark. His eyes now open beneath his visor, all he could see before him was an accursed reminder of what had been stolen from him, of how the justice they deserved still eluded him. Why was he still so far? Had he been too complacent? Held too much back? had he-

"Even if you must destroy to achieve your ends, look to ensure that such destruction is not your end goal. Find someone to protect, or something to build out of the ashes you leave behind."

That was why. This. Now. Spiraling into a spiteful haze over a simple question that happened to dredge up a bit of heartache. Losing himself in catharsis from the short term idea of finally getting what he'd always wished for, without a single concern for what happened next. Because unlike a blunt instrument...

Scalpels only destroy what is needed to achieve a greater goal.

"It was nice," He finally responded, voice echoing out of his helmet's comms "... but me mum always made better." A brilliant flash of light accompanied his answer, as yet again he modified the coil of light his spark unleashed... just like the others, it had traded its destructive potential for increased luminoscity. Unlike the others, it didn't bother to leave his blade, instead sticking to it and engulfing both himself and No Equal in a blinding light as Caridin stepped forward into the old man's guard without breaking their current blade lock, and attempted to drive his pommel into his chin with every ounce of strength he could muster-strength which in most circumstances could beat even a heavily armored juggernaut like himself silly. He didn't care how bright his light got. He never cared. It could grow to rival the glorious radiance of Wrath's sun, and still, Caridin would see through it just fine.

His current gamble banked on the hope that the same wasn't true for his opponent.

[IntSys]

Neon Aletheia vs. Ethereal Hunter

With the immense increase in velocity, and the other drones occupied, everything had been sealed. Ethereal Hunter's Spark was lagging behind, and her shape was lit up in all its glory under all the light show. Somehow, it shined brighter than its actual source.

Neon suddenly warped forward rapidly, chaining all of her teleports together to collide with her opponent early. Her hands reached forward, and grabbed the railbow's barrel tightly. And, for that brief moment, EtHun could see Neon's eyes. Eyes that looked like they belonged to a drowning man who had been dragged further down into the water.

But nothing happened to the strong.

The shot pierced through Neon, pinning her back to the floor at high speeds. Wordlessly, Neon stared at EtHun as her shape disappeared before her eyes.

A loud thud and some more, and finally, darkness returned to the arena. It took a good ten seconds for Neon to get back onto her feet. It was game over.

"... Hey... You're really determined, aren't you?" Neon picked herself up and spoke to her opponent, returning to her usual professionalism, "Why?"



(Note: All warps were expended)

[Twinwolf]

Neon Aletheia vs. Ethereal Hunter

For a few moments Maddie didn't realize the battle was over, and braced for the inevitable counter; she'd have one of her drones eat the first hit and teleport out of the way, and then she'd pull back and reset and-

And Neon was pinned to the ground. As the match registered as over, and she fell to the ground, EtHun's cloaking fell away. She'd... she had won? The crazy gambit worked? How? She'd been sure that there was too much shield for her to pierce or something... She was looking at Neon on the ground for a good five seconds before it fully registered and she desummoned her mech. She walked over and extended a hand to help her up.

...Why was she determined...? Well, anyone would be, if they got here, right? She had to at least look like she belonged in the competition, as if she weren't just some nobody who managed to get a few lucky victories early. She had to live up to the expectations of the god of her plane, and the people rooting for her, and anyone else who thought she was supposed to do well, and-

"Well, you were kind of dominating the fight. I couldn't just go down without even landing a solid hit, could I? So... I had to do something a bit reckless. I didn't actually expect that to work honestly?" she said instead. "So how were you eating all those attacks? I figured it was some kind of 'critical weakspot' type thing, and you tried to protect the glowing bit..."

[IntSys]

Neon Aletheia & Ethereal Hunter

"No. That's not what I'm talking about," Neon shook her head. If it were just that, a guaranteed snipe from afar would've accomplished exactly what she wanted, far more easily. However, she figured that it'd be meaningless to press any further. The answer was already clear enough just from her records - she was living up to the expectations of the many.

Neon was mildly surprised by the obliviousness of her opponent, on the other hand. It felt like a lie, or maybe it was just that she was just not willing to consider such reality.

She let out a tiny sigh, and looked at Maddie in the eyes. The images of the other challengers she had faced back in Lust came into mind. "Some people came here for the name, others came for the power to make the world a better place, still others came here to train themselves to become a better person. I suppose that you're at least in part fighting for all the people supporting you. As for me... I'm just fighting to survive," her voice was still uplifting, yet the words were undeniably grim. "I'm sure that someone of your caliber can figure out what exactly I've been doing to be able to eat all those attacks," she flashed a confident smile and winked, "and it'd be great if you could appreciate my effort."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Raguel vs NO EQUAL

"Ah, then I never stood any chance." Ookami smiled warmly at the comment, there was certainly some pain in those words. The past nature of it all, perhaps this was the driving force behind such a blinding light? "As much as I believe there's always a way to victory, I had fought a losing battle without knowing it BWAHAHA! Be proud! She'd be proud of you right now!" Ookami knew full well what came next, the boy's instincts were good, great enough. His recovery would get the better of many a swordsman, even a few swordmasters Ookami knew. The style reminded him of a blade he had crossed before, thought a much less polished version of such.

Unfortunately for Cardian, Ookami was no ordinary swordsman. His instincts would fail him here, leading to the true lesson this fight sought to teach. The boy needed to learn when to trust his gut, and when to trust his head. Ookami knew the blow was coming, adjusting to take the blow in a way he could follow it to reduce the impact. It was something else seeing a man take the force of a mech's blow on the chin and mitigate the brunt of it. Dull red flames leapt at the site of impact, a sure sign of damage, however that was Ookami's opening. As Cardian had shifted to strike him the path on which Ookami's blade cleared further, the shallow mark his blade had left in his prior stroke, now wide open.

The tip of the blade shot forth once more, surging right into the crack he had made prior, a lock on his blade wasn't the way you could stop Unequivocal Soul for good. It was any length, any weight, etc. And it could change in an instant. Such was the soul of Ookami's mighty blade.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Raguel v No Equal
"Feck, I shoulda known!" Caridin cursed under his breath. How foolish of him, to have not taken into account the fact this old coot can turn his sword into a noodle. He was unlucky enough to get a reminder as the old man's blade suddenly shot forward and morphed it's shape. Unlike the previous instance, it pierced his armor rather than simply slashed it... which Caridin quickly realized as it punched through the earlier gash, into the second layer, and kept going slowly but surely, was going to be a death sentence.
    He was actually impressed, truth be told, the old man put more power into that simple katana of his than some of the heavy weights he'd fought to get here could even muster with their whole mechs. That combined with the fact that he could obviously control it at will and keep exerting that force even when it was extended like this... true to his namesake, No Equal was doing what no others before him had managed. Even the great Arcturus had needed to unleash a volley of countless time-fucked arrows backed by ungodly amounts of energy in order to get through his hull so quickly and easily. No Equal was accomplishing the same feat by simply launching a single blade thrust through with his full might, not letting anything in it's way stop it.

But he couldn't very well just stand here and eat the loss without doing something. He still had a precious few moments as the blade worked its way through his defenses. He almost regretted using up his charge on that blinding trick earlier, now would've been a great time to feed it back into his armor, stop this thing just long enough... oh well. But there was plenty of energy right in front of him. He could feel the familiar tug in the back of his mind, the restless hunger in his heart.

This man, No Equal, was a beacon. Not as bright as one as Arcturus, but a Beacon nonetheless.

A Beacon whom Caridin wasted no time in devouring. He held nothing back from his spark, letting it's pull extend itself over No Equal and rapidly sucking in tendrils of dull red flame from his mortal coil, circulating around Caridin in a halo of energy as they left the old man's form and entered his. The lad smiled as his eyes transitioned from green to gold, and from gold to a color so bright it could only be described as pure white. His visor likewise blazed white, as his entire mech rapidly lit up as the light he carried accelerated itself further, and further with No Equal's Energy, even as his katana rapidly tore through Raguel's hull layers. There wasn't much time left. He had charged enough, it was now or never.
    Raising his blade for a mighty overhead strike, he finally allowed the light to burst forth from his very spirit, creating a massive pillar of radiance anchored to his weapon and shaking the very arena floor with the raw force of it's mighty roar. Even as he unleashed the light, he continued to syphon energy from his opponent, growing the pillar further as he steeled himself, tightened his grip, and emitted an audbile battle cry as he swung downwards, putting his entire being into the hands that now directed this ray of pure destruction. Surprisingly though, it wasn't a mindless shriek, but instead an intelligible reply to No Equal's earlier banter.

"Thank ye! That's what I keep trying to tell meself!"

It would all come down to these last moments. He knew it would. He could feel the old man's blade, dangerously deep within his armor, tearing ever closer to his vital systems. Far too close for comfort. It occurred to him that he probably could've improve his odds greatly had he unleashed a Favor Burst in conjunction with the light, but well.... feck it. There was no time for that now.

He had made his decision, and he was committed to it. He could only hope that his physical might and the force of his will would allow him to steer the beam towards it's mark before No Equal's blade steered its way through the final layer of his hull...

[Takosher]

Story Phase

Aleks

Feeling somewhat lost after his failure to beat Sycophant, Aleks had found himself wandering a bit immediately after the fight. He went through all the places open to him, a fairly restricted area now that he felt a need to escape it temporarily, and the only place that remained was the audience chamber. It actually seemed like a good place to think, it was unlikely anyone would be there at this time. But when he transported there, he was met with a bit of a surprise.

Sitting behind the Tenth God's desk was a young girl, but not the Hellfire Knight. Her head was on the desk, obscuring her face behind her dirty blonde hair, so Midas couldn't be certain of her identity. She seemed to be sleeping, so there was still time for him to turn around and leave if he was still seeking privacy with his thoughts.

Tarmo

It was a few days after the fight. Tarmo was in the dining area, partaking of some of the previous night's leftovers for his breakfast. He was alone until that person walked in. It wasn't the first time they'd seen each other since the tournament started, but they hadn't been alone like this before. After getting some food for himself, Astra took notice of Tarmo. He walked over and pulled out a chair, not asking permission before joining Tarmo at his table. He didn't look happy, but Astra never looked happy. Astra kept looking like he was about to say something before stopping and attempting to cover the attempt with a bite of food, leading to an extremely awkward silence.

Eventually he managed to actually get some words out, though they were rather unimpressive for how long he took to come to them, "So... I'm not good at small talk, you got a topic or should we just sit here in awkward silence?"

Maddie

Maddie had a lot to do in the wake of her fight. Though she hadn't been brought on by Marita Lemmins (a disappointment, since Marita was the ultimate mech nerd), she had been asked for interviews and autographs by a slew of other reporters and fans. This unfortunately left her little time to do anything else for nearly two days, and she hadn't had a chance to meet with the Hellfire Knight like she'd been hoping. But as it turned out, luck was in her favor, as when dinner was served by a proper chef for the first time at the end of that second day, Maddie found herself sitting alone with the Tenth God. Though the dining hall was a bit noisy, it still provided the opportunity to talk, and Maddie was finally getting to meet the champion whose footsteps she was supposed to follow in.

Ookami

Ookami had something important to do, something he needed to understand, for understanding it might help him finally understand himself. The problem was, what he needed to do required talking to a rather elusive target. It wasn't that she was hard to find, but rather that she seemed to be attached at the hip to Sleeping Bear, and for Ookami to have the discussion he needed, he had to find her alone. Because of this, he had finally settled on going to her room directly. It was the start of the dim hours, so it was unlikely she'd be out and about, but if she were an early rester then he might have missed her. But still, it was his best chance. Hopefully she'd be willing to let him in.

Perhaps surprisingly, Winter responded to his teleport request affirmatively, and Ookami found himself transported into her quarters. He was immediately confronted with a sense of frigid cold and overwhelming loneliness, the very same he had sensed the first time he laid eyes on her. Besides himself, Winter was the first soul he'd found that he found so distorting. Certainly he'd encountered the god Aries, who appeared to have no Spark whatsoever, but that was something different. In the case of Winter it was much more like with his own soul, with an unknown force impeding his ability to understand what he was observing. It was for that very reason that he had come to speak to her. She was no ordinary individual, he needed to know who or what she was, in the hopes that it might shine a light on his own existence.

Caridin

A few days after the match, Caridin once more found himself in the practice arena, though this time it wasn't to participate in a fight. In fact, he didn't know why he was here at all. Arcturus had sent him a message telling him he'd find something interesting at the arena. The issue was, Caridin had been searching for nearly two hours and hadn't found anything interesting at all. Cryptic messages were starting to become a common problem for him.

Neon

The evening after her fight, Neon was alone in her room when she received an audio call from Mr. Eyman, her manager with Erebos. Obvious it wasn't something she could ignore, so she answered dutifully.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Mr. Eyman shouted at her angrily, "You do realize you represent Erebos out there, right? You didn't forget that again, did you? You're supposed to reflect back on us positively. Do you know what doesn't reflect on us positively? Making yourself out to be the villain against Gluttony's darling! The media has been at our throats over your performance. If you were going to frame yourself as her foe the least you could have done is actually won you worthless piece of shit. How am I supposed to recover from a PR disaster like this? The owner is going to have your head, and mine will be right after. What do you have to say for yourself?!"

The onslaught of abuse wasn't new, Neon faced Mr. Eyman's vitriol every time she made a mistake on stage. She'd learned to overcome the pain his words caused long ago.

Elspeth

The day after the fight, Elspeth found herself being led onto Marita Lemmins's interview set. It was a small room with two chairs and a small table. Opposite the seating were three cameras and a computer station, though they weren't all manned just yet. The crew seemed to be scrambling to get ready for the interview, which was scheduled to start in only a couple more minutes. Among them was the woman herself, though Marita stepped out of the fray when she noticed Elspeth arriving.

"Hello there!" she announced cheerfully as she walked over to Elspeth, "I'd like to congratulate you on your victory, it was quite the show! If you want to go ahead and make yourself comfortable you can sit in that seat right there, we'll get started shortly. If you have any questions or need some water, you can ask Pierre." She scanned the room a moment before finding Pierre and pointing him out for Elspeth, then quickly jumped back to her work.

Celica

Celica had just woken up, the week was coming to a close and there were only a couple more day before her second match. But something even more imposing than that match was here to face her now. The instant she regained her waking awareness, she felt an unspeakably powerful presence, something so intimidating that she felt like her voice was being choked away from her just being near it. It didn't take long to pinpoint the source, a silent man sat in the corner of the room, his leather outfit and strange hairstyle further increasing Celica's speechlessness. But they also revealed to her exactly what she was dealing with, this was the God of Lust. And unfortunately for Celica, his brown eyes were set in a piercing gaze directed directly towards her. Within moments of her meeting them, he revealed the depth of his power.

"You're a liar." he announced matter-of-factly, having seen through her in an instant. Few saw through her at all, and even those that did were never so certain of it. Swag was something beyond anything she had ever encountered, and that was without accounting for the fact that his mere presence made it difficult to rebut his accusation.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Celica

The days following her victory against Midas were rather exhausting for Celica, thanks to the fact that those watching the Tournament had a new, actual respect for her. Victory had left her with newfound energy, but even that quickly ran out as she worked herself to the bone. This was the first night in a while where she had chosen to actually sleep, instead of simply taking a short nap, in older to prepare for her next match.

Yet now she was regretting the decision to do so, seeing what sat in her very room now.

Normally, it would’ve taken a few seconds for Celica to fully wake up, having learned how to force her sleepiness down and get straight to work once she was awake. But today, it had only taken Celica a split second to wake up and be on alert, her body instinctively perceiving a threat and freezing up accordingly. It didn’t take much longer for her eyes to pinpoint exactly what made her on edge. That being a lone figure sitting in the corner of her room, seeming to have been waiting for her to finally wake up. The simple fact that someone had broken into her room was bad enough, but the clear identity of the intruder made it all the worst.

It was Swag, the God of Lust.

If not for her training, Celica would’ve screamed as soon as she laid eyes on the God. Even after, it took all she had to not scream from seeing him. Why was he here? She had sworn to herself that she would take whatever precautions necessary to avoid being put in the same room as him, as long as it didn’t look like she was actively avoiding him. Yet here they were, face to face at her most vulnerable. It didn’t make sense to her, why would he have...

… Bear or Blink. Those were the only two individuals she could think of who would get Swag to investigate her. She overestimated her ability to hide her true nature from those two and they decided to get him to do their work for them. Fantastic, and judging by Swag’s first words to her, it was clear that he knew. Still, she might be able to salvage this.

“I have to say, barging into a lady’s room and accusing her of being a liar as soon as she wakes up is a bit rude, to be honest. You could at least give me a bit of a notice” Celica commented after a few seconds of silence, pushing herself up into a sitting position while simultaneously letting out a yawn, “Did you need anything?”

[AzyWng]

It was embarrassing to have lost like that, in spite of what he'd told Celica earlier. Maybe he hadn't expected to win every single match, and maybe MT was just numbers when the time to trade blows came, but he'd still been... utterly outmatched, really. Hell, Sycophant had been able to tear off Midas' arm. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd taken a hit that severe. All the noise and light from earlier was nice, but...

Aleks' thoughts were interrupted when he came across the young girl. Strange that she should be in the Tenth God's seat, seeing as Bear had a maid, and none of the other gods were known for having hired help of any kind.

Walking over, Aleks asked the young girl, "Excuse me? If I might ask... what are you doing here?"

[Takosher]

Aleks

The girl didn't raise her head in response to Aleks's question, instead a single finger rose out of the center of the arm said head was resting upon. "Are you blind? I'm taking a nap. The fuck do you want?" she snapped, her voice muffled.

It was an unusual response, to say the least. Whoever this girl was, she clearly didn't have much respect for anyone else.

Celica

Swag didn't answer Celica right away, he simply stared further, his intense gaze causing her skin to squirm. When he did finally speak, he still didn't really answer her, "I have need of nothing, I'm privileged to lead a fulfilling life. You, on the other hand, have need of much. Yet you do not carry the air of greed. Perhaps you seek something deeper, closure perhaps?"

He pulled something from his pocket, a small coin purse. It didn't jingle with the sound of coin, however, instead it made a hollow rattling as though the innards were made of plastic. Swag began to twirl it by the drawstring, apparently urged on in his thoughts by the sound. It was a deeply annoying sound.

"Tell me, Sycophant, which of your fears drives you to hide yourself?" he asked. The pressure emanating from him lessened a bit, allowing her the ability to respond more freely, though she had no idea what had caused her such immense stress in the first place.

[Chevaleresse]

Tarmo watched Astra as he started and stopped, making the experience even more awkward for the both of them. "I can hardly do regular talk," he responded after another moment's silence. He gave himself another pause to think by gnawing off another chunk of his breakfast. Truth be told, he wasn't sure what to think of the encounter. Was he happy to speak with someone who might understand his experience? Envious of the differing paths their lives had taken to this point? The ever-present bubbling of rage grew a bit stronger around him, as well. Unsure of what direction to take the conversation, he eventually settled on a seemingly simple comment. "It's been a long time."

[Takosher]

Tarmo

Astra seemed a bit relieved by Tarmo's blunt choice of topic. Tarmo even thought he might have noticed a hint of a smile from the man of infinite scowls.

"I was wondering if you might know me." Astra said, "I'm sorry to say I have no idea who you are, I only know your background because Swag told me. Though it was Swag so the details are a bit spotty, you think you can fill me in?"

[IntSys]

Neon

Everything was the way the world said it should be.

Of course, there was nothing else she could've done against Ethereal Hunter. She had a tough upbringing, her fighting style made her stand out amidst all the Gluttony fighters, and perhaps the most important bit of all - she had talent from the very beginning. From the moment she stepped into that pitch-black arena, she had become the world's very own antagonist, and was forced to take it.

And there was no other path before her. To her, and people like her, Tempest was a sea of magma, and Erebos was a red-hot metal pillar standing tall amidst it.

Though it hurt, unimaginably so, she had to cling onto it.

"It was inexcusable. I am deeply sorry for my mistakes, and the damage I have caused to Erebos." Every word she uttered meekly was a result of thousands more mistakes from all these years, often paid with physical pain. "The media statement will be ready for review in an hour."

After a brief pause, she continued, shifting the focus to what was ahead. "The next match is with Unequivocal Soul. I will find a way to make up for the damage against him."

Irresponsible words. She knew very well what kind of person her opponent was. The people would without a doubt side with the old man and what he represented. Not to mention, with how skilled he really was, he would be deciding how the fight would be represented. But her manager wasn't going to be taking in pessimism right now, so she had to task herself to figure out the impossible again.

[DragonRage]

"Uh, thanks!  Glad you enjoyed it," Elspeth giggles awkwardly from behind a hand, not really used to being complimented for her performance in the ring, "Uh, what you could see of it, anyway.  I could barely see a thing in there, and I was right in the thick of it."  She takes a seat in the offered chair, nervously smoothing out her red, sequined, and very thoroughly bedazzled dress.  She takes off her hat, a simple red pillbox also sprinkled with sequins, and puts it on a nearby table, valiantly resisting the urge to vent her nerves by fidgeting with it.

[AzyWng]

Hardly the first time he'd met someone who'd behaved like that, so it didn't really faze him much. Sometimes they'd open up, sometimes they wouldn't.

"Just wanna know what you're doing napping at the desk of a god, that's all. I'm Aleks, one of the challengers in the Second Godhood Trial. And you are?"