Two Kings (Omniada)

(OoC: This is the battle for the position of Diablo in the Rebels of Hell organization, it takes place 200 years before current events, and both characters will fight as if they are tier 0. Each character will have ten posts at which point an army of hell’s guardians will arrive to end the fight in response to the danger to hell.)

Nin walked gently through the bowels of the lowest pits of hell; it was an exceptionally fine day by any regard. The warmth of hell fire felt wonderful against his face. it was a good day, an auspicious one by any right. Hundreds of years from now it would be written in the annals of the History of Hell that here on this day, the sinner’s true rebellion began. In this moment he would forge in hell fire the organization which would one day rise to power and assert its self and the citizens of hell as the dominant race and world. Yes today was the beginning of the APOCOLYPSE.

Looking around he took in the scenery, the tall pillars that this land was known for were far from view. No they had chosen this spot for a reason, for miles around there was nothing but flat land and lava crags. Looking up he figured they’d have just about a half hour or so before the Guardian’s arrived drawn by their power, by their ambition. Xoltol had made this mistake, it had been hundreds of years ago but he remembered it vividly, Xoltol had once held meeting’s right here, it seemed only fitting that the rebels of hell were formed here. His opponent a sinner named Basileus Akuma, an admirable foe, their fight today would determine the future of hell, who would lead, who would follow, a bargain sealed in blood.

Holding out his hands palm up Nins’ pitch black reiatsu swirled around them forming into his trusty weapons the infernal sword and shield, the first a wicked looking black blade with a jeweled hilt and a slight curve at the tip, the second a shield just over a foot and a half emblazoned with a skull. Holding both to his chest he blinked his eye’s loosing any form of pupil or retina and becoming jet black giving him a 360 degree view of the battlefield. He could feel the light thrum of gemma diabolos, Xoltol’s last gift, perhaps the gem only thrummed in his mind, he would never know, but he whispered a soft prayer in ancient summerian an old habit, but a hard one to kick… When Basileus arrived he would speak out loud.

“My name is Ningirsu Utu, I have come to answer the call of the rebellion. A snake needs a head, as does a rebellion I agree by blood and oath to honor the deal struck here. On this day, if you too agree to these terms then I invite you to come taste my blade. We shall see who rules!”

Settling into his fighting stance Nin readied himself for the upcoming battle his right leg forward with his left toes pointing perpendicular to it, in his right hand his sword, in his left his shield. His weight was centered and his eye’s focused on the opponent looking for all hints, any edge to win. Lastly, but the most important of them all, a smile sat on his lips for today was an auspicious day.

Basileus Akuma walked slowly through the crags and rocks of Hell's deepest pits. He looked around and the grin on his face slowly grew wider. The heat from the seeping magma was simply delightful and the ash and dust sweeping in clouds across the rocky plain gave a delectably suffocating scent to the air. It was the kind of day that made him want to sit in his dark cave with a nice half-dead mortal to torture. It only made it better that this was the day that all his ambitions and schemes would come to fruition. There was only one last stumbling block, a pleasantly evil Sinner that intended to take his position as ruler of Hell. Of course, it was quite tickling that the man had organized half the Sinners in Hell onto the brink of becoming a single entity. Of course, that still meant Basileus had had to connive the other half into unification, but that was a fun part.

When he got to the meeting point, he saw that the man had already shown up. The man offered an eloquent introduction and challenge. Basileus Nodded cheerfully in response. "This will be fun... He stood still for a moment, gazing at the other sinner, the warm air blowing his coat on his shoulders.He crouched, preparig to leap at the other man when he suddenly changed his mind.

He fell to his knees. This was agonizing. Who would be so sick as to enjoy the prospect of leading an army of damned spirits to conquer the mortal world? And who would think "cozy" meant torturing people in your little crag of Hell? But Basileus clearly recalled feeling those things only moments ago. What was so wrong with him? Tears streamed down his face. "P-Please..." he pleaded to the demon in front of him, "please...k-kill me now...I don't....want to live..." his body began to be wracked with sobs. Maybe, just once, his evil side would allow him to die. Maybe just once--

Basileus launched up off his knees, his sobs turned into laughter. The tears began clearing off his face. He propelled himself at his opponent, the claws on his gloves reaching out to tear out the other Sinner's stomach. "Well, you saw it did you?" He jumped back, about twenty feet away now and threw the first of his two throwing knives at the other Sinner's throat. "My pathetic mundane self. The me that was dominant in life...but now that I'm dead..."

Finally he clenched his fingers like claws. Energy began to coalesce from the air into two disks, hovering just below his talon-like hands. Black energy, so dark it seemed to suck the light from around it. It gave off an aura of pure destruction. Basileus raised the disks in preparation for an attack from the opposing Sinner.

Nin smiled amused as his opponent dropped to his knees and begged for death, this was originally how he had envisioned their fight ending, not beginning. If this was a ploy of some sort to make him go easy, it fell on deaf ears. However, he had little time to enjoy the view as Basileus surged forward a clawed glove leading the charge to remove Nins intestine. His shield swung forward intercepting the attack the claws grating against the zanapakuto hard, bone shield, the ring of the metal on the shield was a distinct tone one that sounded the commencement of their dual, like the bell of a boxers match. No sooner had his opponent struck then he retreated a blade arcing through the air, spotting the projectile Nin brought his blade across its path a second clang rattling into the distance. As Basileus spoke dark energy surged near his hands forming into two disks, hovering voids of energy… an attack of some sort? Or a defense? Yet it did not matter Basileus had already handed him the first advantage without even knowing it, he just had to figure out the right way to use it. To be frank Nin was intrigued, a second persona trapped within his opponent, how wonderful.

“With all respect my friend, I would say please keep the sniveling for after the fight, I much more prefer the diabolic persona…. Do you think you can manage that?”

Nin spoke keeping his focus on his foe; he was shrewd that much was clear. His weapon choice was interesting as well clawed gloves and throwing knives, weapons like those maximized maneuverability over damage. However, the issue at hand was the energy disks, they would have to be tested. Surging forward he charged his opponent blade first black reiatsu shimmering along its edges, his shield following closely. He opened with a downward diagonal slice at Basileus’s left shoulder. However, the strength of the charge was not in that attack instead it was used as a pivot point and a diversion to mask his left hand shield bash aiming to crush into his opponents’ right shoulder and ribs. Finally he thrust his blade forward a quick stabbing motion at his foes opposite ribs.

As his blade and shield clattered and clanged against his foe, one more attack began. The subtle and gentle kind, beneath Nin’s shirt in a pendant on a chain around his neck gemma diabolos started its part in battle. With out noise, or an outward sign it whisper ever so gently into Basileus’s subconscious, the word was vanity a beautiful emotion and particular edged towards art of the braggart. It was not so overt as to straightly say brag; no it just gently nudged him towards it. With enough focus and concentration he could easily resist, but like so many before him why would he, why would he even realize what was happening… everyone liked to brag.

Basileus watched as his opponent considered him. He watched the his feet and where he kept his balance. Hopefully this man was someone who liked close combat; Basileus could have some fun with him if he were. The man had merely batted away his throwing knife, perhaps he could be a challenging opponent. At the very least, he seemed interested in Basileus's pitiful other personality. No doubt considering the possibility of using it agains him. He didn't understand that Basileus had complete control during fights. In fact, the other Basileus had only broken through because it knew it would be it's last chance for a very long time. Basileus didn't even honor the other Sinner's comment on the subject with a response.

Then the man charged him, his blade leading, it's edges shimmering with some sort of energy. Basileus bought for a moment about blocking, but instead ducked down, almost to a squatting position, stepping almost between his opponents legs, his opponent's sword strike and shield bash hitting the air above his head. He then leapt up, nearly ten feet up, his disks positioned so their lethal energy would cut rigt through his opponent on the way up, from groin to head, if he didn't move. It was only midway through the air that he noticed that Nin had actually hit him, that last stab grazing his left calf on the way up.

Basileus landed a few feet away and then jumped a few more times, ending up about thirty meters away. Though he didn't know it, the gem was already having it's effect on him, making him a bit more proud and assured of his own abilities."Perhaps it would seem to make me weak, but my other side makes me strong. I always have an opponent. I always have this dead weight weighing me down. Except that when I fight the weight is released. How can you hope to fight agains someone who's lived his entire life with weights strapped to his body?"

Then his disks disappeared and instead a beam of the sinister black energy extended out from his right hand, cuttIng idefinatly through the stone ground. He swept it around to where Nin was standing, then brought it around again to attempt to cut through his opponent again. And this was just him warming up.

Basileus’s agility was surprising; ducking beneath his blows the man surged up his black disks acting like circular saws as he attempted to slice him in half. Having just charged his balance was caught slightly off and he was force to more throw his weight back then slide out of the way, the disk came close skimming the outer layer of his Hells cloak, the invisible barrier shimmering as it reduced 75% of the attacks potency, and retreated momentarily allowing the remaining energy to skid along his hierro like skin leaving twin light cuts just slightly in and above his right nipple. However, an eye for an eye and a cut for a cut Nins blade grazed along Basileus’s leg. Landing a distance away from his opponent he spoke his voice brimmed with confidence as he reveled the dynamic between him and his alternate persona. The information was fascinating, it would seem there was a psychoactive link between combat and the more aggressive of the two personas, however more information was still necessary. As the gem continued it’s influence Nin would need to provide the right path.

“Hmm, one would think all that weight would tire you. Is that why you run from me? Is it fear?”

The moment between attacks was short lived however, and Nin began his charge when suddenly Basileus released a beam of dark energy which burned through the ground leaving destruction in it’s wake. Unsummoning his sword and shield as he dove to the left dodging the first beam strike, Nin rolled to his feet both weapons reappearing in his hands. With a frown he watched as the beam curved once more surging towards him to cut through his defenses. Running around his opponent in a circle the beam followed him as the radius decreased a bit. However, this tactic was nothing more then a stall for Nin’s blade had cut Basileus meaning the diluted form of his infernal reiatsu would soon be taking effect, the small graze on his leg from early would flare with pain as the corrosive energy ate away at Basileus’s leg deepening the wound by 1cm.

That would be his moment, the point where he would attack, the instant the reiatsu in the wound took effect Nin, would open his mouth releasing a sub-sonic scream known as the banshee’s shriek. Just below audible levels the shriek interacted with his enemy’s neuro-optic relays causing a reversal of left and right perception. Firing two black bala like attacks he would then hook around dodging right and charging in with a shield bash at his opponent’s head quickly followed by two criss-crossed sword slashes. However to his opponent it would appear Nin went left. A smile crossed Nins face as he brought his shield about… this was fun.

(OoC: Banshee’s shriek lasts for three posts)

~Seven Posts Left~

Basileus was preparing to respond heatedly when he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He took a moment to look down at it and saw that something about the light wound had opened it up into a large gash. When he thought back on it, he remembered Nin's sword being charged with some sort of energy...apparently this was the effect. He would have to be careful. Perhaps that energy could have other detrimental effects. If so he didn't want them to surprise him.

The moment after Basileus noticed this he felt...something shift in his sight. He didn't know what yet, but something seemed to have changed. But he didn't have time to think on it, because he noticed a pair of black blasts of energy. He barely managed to step out of their path to the left...only to see them pass him on the left. That was strange. But again, there was no time to dwell on it, as his opponent was coming at him from his right. It was when raised his right arm only to see his left arm move, a black disk appearing in the wrong hand, that he understood what was wrong. It seemed like his direction had been switched. There was n oway that he would be able to compensate quickly enough...so...

As his opponent approached, nearly three meters away, a halo of three conecentric black rings appeared over Basileus's head. By the time his opponent was only eight feet away, they were spinning around him, faster then the eye could follow or the mind could comprehend. What had once been three rings of malevolent black energy now became a four meter in diameter, slitghty transparent black sphere around Basileus. Any solid object would be stopped by the revolving rings, and any energy would be sucked into the rings and destroyed. It was the perfect defense. Of course, he couldn't walk around while it was in use, but all he needed was some time to get used to the switc of left and right. Inside the ring, he moved his arms slowly, watching which arm moved. He opened and closed his hands and summoned and dismissed a few Melchsee's Disks, trying to get used to the switch. Finally, when he thought he was ready, looked up at tue other Sinner in front of him. "Why do I run? I would like this fun to last a little while. If I were to stay close, it would be way too easy. But if you insist..."

He returned the rings to the halo for a moment and stepped forward, admitting the other Sinner into the two meter radius, dead in front of him. Two of the black rings swung around over, the behind the man, finally moving in from either side behind him to slice him apart at the small of the back. At the same time, he created two Disks in his hands and lunged at the enemy, aiming for the same places but on the fromt of his body. In essence, four black blades were closing in at him a the same time from every direction. It meant that the switch in direction meant nothing at all. And after that attack he leapt back a few meters, bringing the rings back into a halo. Finally, he drew his right hand back like he was drawing a bow. A three inch black sphere appeared and he released it, moving a little slower than a Bala. He had leapt directly backward, so fired directly forward, hoping to take the other Sinner by surprise.

Nin was surprised at Basileus’s quick response to the bala, dodging them despite his direction reversal and the distraction of his infernal reiatsu, and things only went worse for the attack. As he neared his opponent, a large black sphere of energy surrounded him a defensive technique of some sort, unable to completely stop his momentum with such short time he did the next best thing, his shield rapidly expanded into a tower shield which he slammed into the sphere, both in an attempt to break it and second to push off and re-direct his momentum tangent to curvature of the sphere, avoiding harm. Within Nin could make out his opponent attempting to figure out the directionality switch a difficult task as it required not only understanding the switch but also ignoring years of instinctual training on which limb to use to block where. His shield returned to it’s normal size as he watched.

However, the shield dropped and Basileus charged spouting how close combat with Nin would make the battle too easy, a foolish mistake. Among the physically strongest Sinners in Hell and a close combat specialist Basileus had severely underestimated him. His hell’s eyes watched both Basileus with the disks and the spinning halo’s behind him and he would use an old favorite tactic of his to counter. Pushing off he charged at Basileus’s charge feigning ignorance of the disks behind him. Once him and Basileus were inches away he set his plan in motion, using the ground around him as his medium four rifts open surging from their depths were giant skeletal arms covered in glowing purple energy. Two would rise behind him and two behind Basileus. These cognizant minions would defend their master with their lives, the two behind him throwing their skeletal hands which were as strong as steel in the path of the disks while the two behind Basileus would slam their curled fists into his back.

At the same time, Nin would drive his shield and sword respectively at each of Basileus energy disks. This alone may have been sufficient, but Nin did not want to let the man escape back to a long distance advantage, from both hips and his right shoulder long black tendrils of energy grew from his body, his hellish modifications. The fifteen-foot tentacles shot out; the shoulder bound one shooting between Nin’s hands in an attempt to wrap around Basileus’s throat and choke him, while the ones from his hip fired at his opponent’s knee’s cracking like a whip to slice them across and limit the man maneuverability. With any luck the combined attacks would allow him to use the momentum of his charge to slam into Basileus as well.

~Six Posts Left~

Basileus was startled first by the appearance of the strange skeletal hands, then by the fact that apparently, the other Sinner had a method to see the disks behind him. But he was only startled. Neither made much difference. Because when the rings made contact with the hands, they cut through them like a knife through butter. Which worried him. Normally, there would be absolutely no resistance, a the disks weren't acually cutting. They were merely...annihilating anything in their path. Perhaps the hands partially counted as spiritually charged weapons. Those were the only things the rings couldn't destroy. Regardless, the slight resistance meant that the disks would arrive a second later than he expected. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing though. Now he had some Ike to work with.

When he saw this, he ducked down instead of following through with his disks. Like before he was almost in a crouch. It amused Basileus that the other Sinner kept coming from directly forward. It was the only direction unaffected by the directional shift. What was the point of having a power if you didn't make use of it?

Basileus left the last ring where his head had been and dived between the other Sinner's legs. He was caught by surprise when the tenticals hit his now lower shoulders and made two matching gashes. And when he tried to stand quickly again, he stumbled from the pain of the earlier wound. But he did have the time to turn to what appeared to be his left, trying to bring the disks into his opponent's back, and at the same time bringing the last halo towards him--which would mean through Nin. And finally, the other two halos appeared, curving around to either side of Nin and going for his neck. While he was doing all this, he was also speaking.

"You see, the reason I choose speed and mobility over power is not because I don't value streangth, it is because my Melchsee's Door makes streangth unnecessary. Why do you need to be physically strong when you can cut through anything anyway?"

Nin was surprised to say the least by Basileus’s agility despite his injured leg, able to dodge the behind the back attack of his skeletal minions while sliding below the knee high tendrils and between his moving legs, all with his perception reversed and pop up behind him with an attack. Seeing the disks were quickly making their way through his other minions and Basileus was turning to attack he did the only thing he could, dismissed his weapons and attempt to dive forward into a roll, however he wasn’t fast enough and Basileus managed to land an attack on his back his cloak reducing the brunt of the attack the disk still managed to leave a slash up his lower right back as the halo of energy swooped over head missing him by a hair. Hitting the ground Nin finished his roll wincing in pain as the wound on his back scrapped along the hard hot stone. About seven feet from his foe he jumped back extending the distance. It would seem the man would require a different approach. With a smile he looked at his opponent, there was a reason he loved his hellish modification so much, the long dark tendrils of energy were the perfect weapons able to sprout from anything he touched even the clothes on his skin, as they were now. However more importantly they were made of an undiluted form of his infernal reiatsu, meaning one, those wounds on Basileus’s shoulders would soon expand one centimeter in every direction and two his speed was now sapped by roughly 10% as the corrupting energy mingled with his blood.

However before that happened Nin still had time to set the stage, he spoke with a smile his voice still velvety smooth, as purple vapor oozed from his body filling the area for 45 feet around him with translucent obscuring clouds of his dark miasma.

“How interesting my friend, you seem to be under the illusion that you have an advantage here. Very sad, sad indeed.”

Forming directly in front of him an illusion took the shape of an exact copy of Nin who would walk towards Basileus still speaking with Nin’s voice.

“You see, you believe that you’ve been fighting me in hell, but the truth is from the moment I first touched you we had left Hell. This, this is my world… formed of my will. My sinner’s ability is to take my opponent there. It’s been fun playing but I believe now its time you suffered.”

While the illusion attempted to hold his opponent’s attention Nin would slink through the mist, the gemma diablos whispering doubts of his reality to his opponent a subtle suggestion of paranoia in the form of nothing is real. Now with real Nin roughly 10 feet to Basileus’s right and slightly behind, a second illusion of Nin would pop out from Basileus’s front left charging with sword and shield as the talking illusion burst into mist. The second Basileus noticed the charging illusion, the real Nin’s infernal tendrils would lash out the two from his hip going for the back of the knees while the one from his shoulder went for his back at the connection point of back and neck along the spine. Meanwhile seconds after the attack hit or missed the illusion would burst into blinding flames laughing hysterically as the real Nin slunk back into the mist and to the right, ten other shadows of him appearing all around his opponent in the mist. To top it off if his timing was right the second clone would have appeared just about the time that his infernal reiatsu struck his opponent’s shoulders.

(OOC: I didn't explain dodging the skeletal hands because I thought it would be obvious. Since you said Nin was charging at the same time his hands were attacking, the duck down would thus cover both, leaving the attacks to collide with each other. If I'm visualizing the attacks wrong, just say so and I'll add the damage from the strikes.)

The other Sinner dived away and just barely under the last ring. Basileus was about to start pushing his advantage, when he noticed the purple smoke emanating from his opponent's body. For a moment, he comanded the rings to weave their protective circle in case the gas was a direct poison or something. But when they appeared to do nothing, he stopped them. This gas must have another purpose.

Then he listened to what the other man said. It seemed ridiculous, but something in Basileus felt it was true. If this world really was under the command of his enemy, he would be in serious trouble. Most men, he knew, would be defeated already. If he really was in his opponent's own world--as Basileus slowly became more and more scaredly certain of--then he at least had one defense. He stood still for a moment and a shadow rose up his body, veiling him in darkness. His his face was completely dark, except for his eyes, which shone brightly. The halos around his head expanded, now a huge canopy of six concentric rings hanging over him. He began to airwalk--if he didn't he would sink through the ground, anihillating even the earth beneath his feet. His entire body was charged with his sinister black energy. He was now Melchsee's Specter.

Suddenly Nin burst apart in shadow, confirming to Basileus that this world was not real. A second Sinner had appeared, charging at him from behind he turned around, but as he did, he stumbled and fell to the ground, the wounds in his shoulders opening up more. He cursed himself for forgetting that Nin's own energy could do that. Just as he thought he could get up, he saw and felt the strange tentacles from before las out at him. This worried him. Were they real? Or were they meant to get him to move into a trap? He didn't have time to make the desiscion before the hit him.

But he was surprised. Then he figured it out. These were offensive energies. And the Melchsee's Door in him loved offensive energies. Which explained why the riatsu in the tenticals was merely consumed and destroyed by the energy. Basileus stood for a moment, then rushed in the direction he had seen them from. After Ono ya few meters he remembered the switch and cursed himself. He had been running in the exact opposite direction. Think of the time he had wasted! And now that he had thought about it, he had felt kind of sluggish about it too.

But he wasted no time. His arms were nearly useless, dangling from his shoulders due to the pain of the recent cuts. He knew that when it came down to it it wouldn't matter. His arms needed to be loose for his style of fighting anyway. The real problem was finding his opponent in his own world. He could be anywhere. Basileus spun around, and fired and Arrow--the three-inch Bala-like blast from before, now amplified to a sphere four meters around, flying forward, destroying anything in it's way. But Basileus doubted his opponent was there anymore. In desperation, he formed a new disk in his hand, dismissing the old two. He pointed this one out and four black beams flew out from it, spinning like a Gatling gun. He spun in a circle, hoping to get everything in Nin's little "world".

(OoC: No that was just meant as an IC reaction, if I felt you ignored one of my attacks I wouldn’t have posted just pmed you . On a completely unrelated note though, the new scrolling sig banner is friggen awesome.)

Nin watched with curiosity as basileus changed, his body bathed in the same strange energy his attacks were made of, as his tendrils struck the mans body he felt their energy absorb into his opponent, whipping back the slightly shortened attacks before making his diagonal run. This new development was both good and bad, while the bad was quite obvious the good was shown in two regards, first the man was rattled enough to use an obvious ace like this ability and momentarily forget about the switch in directionality running away before his face took a strange look of confusion and he turned around firing a gigantic blast of energy, far from Nin. Nin kept pace making sure to stay to the man’s right and behind. The second benefit of the man’s transformation was already becoming apparent Nin could feel it in his bones, the side of effect of his dark miasma a weak trickle of energy from his opponent’s body which would sweep into the clouds and swirl with Nin’s own replenishing him while draining his opponent. (1% per post) With the new form that drain of total energy had obviously increased in size Nin could already feel it beginning to course through his blood.

The next development was less then good as Basileus created a floating sphere firing off a gatling style spin attack of the same beam of energy as before. This would be troublesome his opponent was spinning in circles firing off the blasts with reckless abandon. Covered in his energy and protected by even more of those troublesome rings it would seem he would be unapproachable with out risking harm. Nin re-summoned his weaponry, his shield expanding into a tower shield, he had hoped not to use this ability so soon but it seemed he would have to blow it now if he hoped to keep his opponent on edge and keep himself alive. As the beam’s reached his position the skull design on the shield opened it’s mouth and the entire shield turned black like a bottomless void sucking in all four lances and banishing their energy entirely.

With the looming threat of the beams out of the way a new thought occurred to Nin one in response to a comment Basileus had made earlier referring to his other self as a weight strapping him down. This man had lived his entire sinner existence as a jailer to another consciousness; perhaps it was time to set the prisoner free. A new illusion appeared one of Nin that approached Basileus speaking with a smirk.

“Did I forget to mention, this is my world. I can create and banish whatever I please. Even that pathetic energy of yours, I see you’ve shielded yourself in it… do you not realize the futility of your actions? In this world I AM GOD! But perhaps you require more proof. Easily enough arranged, you see I have spent some time conversing with your other half, an amiable enough if somewhat depressing fellow. I’ve augmented him, as well thankfully his personality, and now will give him the chance to take that pathetic body away from you.”

With the real Nin still sneaking to the back right of Basileus, the illusionary Nin held out his hand creating a swirling vortex of what appeared to Basileus’s energy mixed with Nin’s before his opponent an exact copy of Basileus was created down to the letter and glowing with both his own and Nins energy. It was risk he knew little of his opponents other half but he wouldn’t need much as he had ‘augmented his personality’. The fake Basileus spoke with Basileus’s voice.

”Freedom, finally… I can’t tell you the wonders of it. Nin has offered me everything, the chance to finally be free of YOU!”

With a smile the illusionary Nin faded away into the shadows his final parting words, “Have fun you two. A little music to help break the ice as you get re-acquainted.” (Beethoven’s moonlit sonota)

The fake Basileus stood illusionary rings forming above his head as music rose from the mist, he backed away into the mist that obscured him from view hidden among the shadows of fake Nins. All the while the real Nin was setting up his strategy his banshee’s shriek would have faded away by now, unnoticeably switching his opponents directions back to the original with no frame of reference among the mist he wouldn’t know till too late.

Using his gemma diabolos he whispered again, This world is Nin’s, Is it even possible to win?. Next he used another ability of the gems covering himself in illusionary skin to look exactly like Basileus. Meanwhile, an illusionary Basileus holding an illusionary infernal sword would walk from the shadows to further mess with his opponent’s mind.

“This sword is amazing you know? It gives me corporal form far from you, a boost in power to win my freedom, and partial control of this world.”

Moving at speeds which exceeded even Basileus at his best, the illusion would dash back and forth zig zagging towards his enemy. Behind the real Nin would dash in from the back right looking exactly like Basileus he would dash across slicing with his blade to try and cut across his opponent’s lower back and keep moving back into the darkness of his mist while the illusion did the same a quarter of a second before reaching the real Basileus.

(OOC: When I re-read it, I decided it wasn't so obvious, so I decided to post it OOC.)

Basileus was completely surprised when his opponent absorbed and destroyed his beams. It was, he thought, a defense similar to his own. And then the man disappeared again. What kind of world was this? This kind of power...Basileus could only doubt it. Someone of this power would have been able to kill him almost instantly. But at the same time, something gave him absolute certainty it was real. The mist was all that he could see, no reference point. And then a voice came out, claiming to be the god of this world, summoning his other side to rigt against him.

That was when the doubts began. If this man knew anything about his personality, he would know that his personality would never want to fight. In fact, his other personality's first priority would be to die if he could get free. Whatever it was, the shape in front of him was not his other personality. And even if it were the real one...Basileus didn't see the black energy of Melchsee's Specter (OOC: at least, you didn't describe him that way) filling him, and so, as a dreary, quiet piano piece started playing in the background, Basileus decided to charge his other half, hands outstretched like claws. If this other man were real, he'd be torn to shreds by Basileus's own energy, and Basileus's own energy would absorb and destroy the rings.

But apparently, it wasn't real. Another appeared, and another, holding a sword and making a speech. Basileus was a bit confused. Though he now knew intellectually that his opponent was not the true god of this realm, he still felt the terror of it. He could almost here a voice chanting in his ear, Victory is impossible, just give up. Basileus knew how to deal with unwanted emotion though. He merely filed it in his mind with his other half, the locked, inescapable side, and proceeded to ignore it. In fact, without the terror from before to distract him, he felt as though the battle were actually rather even. He smiled. But just had he did, another Basileus appeared. It charged at him, swinging it's sword. Basileus set a ring up in front of the sword, even remembering that his directions were switched and so to block on the opposite side that he s---

The blow hit him exactly where it looked like it was going. He rolled a little to prevent a little damage, but there was still a deep slash across his back. He fell over, but not before sending two rinds to cut in front of the other Basileus and use his momentum to cut his head and legs off. Basileus meanwhile crawled off the ground. He needed to get some distance, so he lept nearly ten feet in the air, and landed a couple meters away. He kept doing that, sweeping his rings around to try and find any enimies lying in wait. It was a lot slower and more painful than he was used to, but the he was suddenly put of the cloud. He got a little bit farther and then set up his dis again, for beams blasting out. He swept it through the cloud, trying to both kill the the man and destroy the clound. He may have failed at both, but at least the cloud was thinner for each particle that came into contact with his body or beams. Hd could now make out shapes on the other side. He launched another large sphere at Nin's shape in the smoke.

Nin was caught off guard by Basileus’s sudden clarity, the only warning being he saw through the deception of the fake Basileus in front of him and placed a ring behind him to block Nin’s attack. Luckily, he hadn’t realized his senses had recovered and Nins’ sword bit deep into the mans back. However, his opponent still had the strength of mind to swing two of those deadly rings into Nins path. With little time to react there was no way he could avoid the rings completely so he did the next best thing, expanding his shield into a tower shield he slammed it against the incoming rings using the impact to spin around the oncoming attack, however the maneuver happened just a bit late and the two spinning halo’s bit through his cloak at Nins hierro like skin leaving a horizontal slash across his right upper arm and right thigh, causing Nin to go spinning into the mist off balance. Arching his back, splaying his legs and shrinking his shield to regain his balance, the effort burned from his previous injury, his back wound flaring. To most such pains would be a disadvantage, but he was Nin a sinner of hell. breed in hell fire he was the devil incarnate and no pain would slow him down. He had spent years with Xoltol enduring the worst pains imaginable to train his endurance to the level it was today.

Turning he watched as Basielus made his way out of the cloud sweeping those halos of his in every direction. He wouldn’t be able to stop his escape, but at minimum his opponent had been in the mist long enough for Nin to gain a second helping of his energy already he could feel it coursing through his veins, revitalizing his energy reserves. Pausing for a moment to think of a new strategy he found himself in quite the predicament, those rings were highly versatile and even with his opponents arms nearly useless he could move them telekinetically around him, their cutting power was quite formidable too capable of slicing through the steel hands of his skeleton minions in seconds. Too make matters worse, his energy seemed able to destroy all other energy perhaps even absorb it as evidenced from his tentacles and earlier his infernal blasts. His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden sweeping arc of those same lances as before, seeing no advantage to wasting another of his shields vortexes he decided to drop to the ground instead allowing the beams of energy to sweep overhead as he lay flat against the warm stone.

Popping back up to his feet after the blast had past he suddenly saw a hurtling ball of energy swirling towards him, somehow his opponent had picked him out from the other shadowy Nins’ and Basileus’s which roamed his mist. However, this was just a single blast not an infinite beam Nins’ shield expanded and he angled it in front of him at a 45 degree angle the blast slamming into it, the majority of the blast rolling off the shield turned by the angle and the rest pushed into Nins’ tremendous strength. The façade of raising his alternate personality had backfired and now the man was out of the cloud. At this rate he was going to lose, he needed to keep his opponent off balance as well as test the degree to which this new shadow form was protected.

First he needed to reassert the idea that his opponent couldn’t win, it would seem the gemma diabolos alone would not be sufficient. Using the mist to call out with his voice and Basileus’s from the opposite side of where he was while he prepped for his attack the voices rang out from illusions of both men.

“It seems your other personality, has inherited the same weakness which plagues you. A shame I’ll have to send him back to that pit I found him in”

“NO STOP… NO!”

With his opponent hopefully focused on the display far to Nins’ left, Basileus’s right. Nin would begin his new strategy dropping the illusion that Gemma Diabolos had projected he once more looked like him, and so did the three wraiths he summoned from the darkness of his soul. Wraiths the many-eyed demons Nin was capable of creating from his own energy, could take any form Nin chose completely without corporal form their illusionary skin was flawless. With several copies of himself already running through the mist and those that once looked liked Basileus doing the same, he set his plan in action. Dashing towards his opponent, two of his wraiths leading the way and one behind him, The leading Wraith would pop put first dashing diagonally left towards his opponent before hooking in, the second wraith would follow suit in the opposite direction dashing right and hooking in. Behind these two would come Nin following the first Wraith about four seconds after the appearance of the second, finally the third wraith would follow the second wraiths route towards Basileus.

Lacking corporal form the three wraith Nins agility was beyond compare and would easily dodge any attack Basileus threw at them, not that it mattered since attacks would just pass straight through them anyway. However, to keep up appearances he needed Basileus to not know which was which. At the end this was all to test the limit of his opponents new-shielded form, first the first two wraiths would arrive at Basileus seconds after Nins’ reiatsu would create a deeper wound from the sword slash, this seeing if the shadow form protected him from within as well as without. Then the wraiths now less then two feet away from their target would transform into their true form for a brief moment before detonating with the power of a cero, this kamikaze attack had two uses one to see if the form was protected from multiple attacks at the same time and two to kick up tons of dust and debris to prevent Basileus from seeing which of the two remaining Nins was the real one, opening his mouth Nin would release a deafening scream of concussive force intending to blow Basileus twenty feet back and see if the shield blocked him from that sort attack as well.

If the concussive blast worked, the real Nin and Wraith Nin would charge from his opponents left and right, respectively criss-crossing each others path to intersect at Basielus with sword strikes meant to hit at the hip, knowing his opponents predilection for using his rings, despite the hope that he would be dazed from the blast Nin would still use the sword impact to pivot his direction cutting out at a sharp right angle away from his opponent, his wraith mimicking the movement, getting a solid twenty feet of distance before spinning to face his opponent. If the blast didn’t work him and his wraith would bee line out attempting to arrive at the same ending position as the previous tactic twenty feet to Basileus’s right and left. (Real Nin to the left)

(OoC: Wraiths true form:

Spoiler:

)

~Three posts left~

The other Sinner easily blocked the blast. He began speaking from within the cloud, but Basileus wasn't listening. Now that he had noised how much of his opponent's power came from his own mind betraying him, he knew better than to listen to his enemy's act. it would only distract him from his real intent and might even force on him the hopelessness he felt earlier. Instead he scanned the cloud, looking for the shape of his opponent. Unfortunately, there were many of them. Perhaps illusions? Apparently Nin had given up on the fake Basileuses.

Then the wound on his back seared with pain. Why did they keep doing that?! It wasn't exactly devistating, but was certainly irritating. He hunched over in pain for a moment, and when he rose again, a shape was moving at him. More than one, in fact. Four. The first two were already upon him, and thog he tried to twist away, the pain in his back kept him from moving that way. For a moment, the two copies of Nin became gastly beings of cloak and darkness and eyes. Then they each exploded with a powerful light that made Basileus flinch reflexively. It was unnecessary though. All the energy and heat from the blast had been consumed by the black energy of Melchsee's Door that was infused with his skin. it made no difference how many attacked him, pure energy like that couldn't do him one bit of harm.

It did, however make it hard to see, due to how much dirt and dust was thrown up from the blasts. In the confusion, he couldn't tell which Nin made the horrible, almost painful sound he heard. Though he didn't know it, it was actually much worse that he experienced. By all rights, it should have thrown him back and away, but instead the force of the sound was also absorbed by the energy in him.

When he recovered from the horrible sound, Basileus looked around. He found two Nin's left, each on either side of him. If he chose wrong he would be open to attack, but he would eliminate the choice. In one hand, pointed right, he created a large black sphere that he would fire off. In his left, a disk with the Gatling Lances he had used before. One of them was fake. Let's see who it is. At the same time, he spoke to his opponent. "What yo udon't understand is that my power is the embodiment of destruction. I am Death, but so much more. I am Decay, and Devistation, and War, and Hate. I am the destroyer. The Door of Melchsee consumes anything it touches. How can you hope to stop me?"

Nin watched as Basileus created another of those troublesome disks and began to speak, however his tactics were becoming predictable, that disk meant another burst of those gatling lances. This presented a perfect opportunity since his wraiths were self aware and knew to never reveal themselves until the last possible moment he didn’t have to worry about whatever, was happening on the other side of Basileus. Now it was up to him to make sure that Basileus thought he was the wraith and the wraith was him. As the lances barreled towards him, he expanded his shield pressing it against his chest and using the gemma diabolos to cover him and weaponry with the illusionary image of a wraith under its cloak with mouth wide open. Beneath the illusion his shield would open a vortex sucking in the energy of the lance, since the last time he used this skill he had been hidden in the mist Basileus would hopefully assume this was one of the wraiths’ abilities and thus think the real wraith that would use its non-corporeal agility to dodge the incoming attack, was him. The second the shield finished absorbing the energy, him and the wraith would charge Basileus.

The wraith using its impossible agility to dodge any incoming attacks would arrive at the same time as Nin. Both would mimic a diagonal rising sword slash from their respective left to rights, the wraith not detonating for fear of harming its master. The second his attack failed or succeeded he would jump back and the wraith would shift and detonate to cover his Masters’ retreat, spraying dust and debris. If all went well, he would now be roughly twenty feet from Basileus, who would have one more injury as well as the debilitating effect that took place on his third sword slice a 5% speed decrease. However, regardless of the outcome of the previous events things could not continue as is. From the sky a light rumble could be heard like the receding of the ocean before a tsunami, Nin knew what this meant, the guardians of hell drawn by the power of their fight had reached level three soon they would arrive from the sound of it at least thirty or forty way more then could be fought. Time was almost up, he had heard this music before, the day Xoltol fell.

~Two posts left~

The beams Basileus fired disappeared again Something had consumed all the power in them. Again, very similar to his own ability... Perhaps it was an element in one of his opponent's abilities. It didn't make very much difference, for if it were in and of itself decisive, his Nin wouldn't have shown it to him, and if the light seeping from the horizon, anything non-decisive probably couldn't be too problematic.

Then he noticed the two figures charging him. Another of hi opponent's illusions, likely. But then, Basileus couldn't take that chance. And didn't want to. He wanted to tear into something, real or imaginary. So he threw two rings each in their way, hoping that would catch them unaware. One of them dodged the two rings with supernatural speed. Basileus immediately ignored that one. That was either an illusion, or the real one that could just move that fast. If it was the real one, he would have no hope of winning anyway, so he might as well open himself up, and if it were an illusion it wouldn't matter. So now, just as the other figure of Nin either took or dodged the blow, Basileus moved three of the rings on the outer limit of his diameter, penning his opponent in. If his opponent tried to escape the colse quarters, they would merely run into his only-somewhat figurative wall of blades.

The next move Basileus made would be to bring two other rings up at his opponent's right an left hips. At the same time, a disk appeared to the right of Basileus's head, creating it's Gattling Lances, aimed dire ty at his opponent's lower chest area. Basileus's last ring still hung at the ready as a halo above his head.

Had he had the thought or desire to look at the horizon now, he would begin to hear the faint rumbling sound of the many guardians of Hell moving slowly towards their prey.

(OOC: this one also doesn't address the sword slice, but that's because the ring in Nin's path comes before Nin actually slashes him. And then you can't jump away because of the rings behind, and you didn't--but could--detonate the wraith due to the now-forced close range. Just need to make sure that all of that is clear.

Also, the rings technically can change sizes up to the circumference of the range, but he doesn't have to concentration to do that for any time, so he keeps them the size of his disks--1.5 feet in diameter. Unless their currently in his halo, for which the just become concentric so the have to be bigger.

(OoC: We’re no longer in the mist but in the interest of keeping the thread moving, and avoiding troubling you with a second re-write I’m gunna say forget it )

Nin charged forward, however it seemed Basileus had seen through his ruse and was now closing the metaphorical trap doors upon him. He watched as three rings skirted his position to try and swing around him as well as one from either side, finally he formed another of those disks indicating the predictable formation of yet another blast from those troublesome gatling lances. With the forces of Hell coming from above and his opponent attacking from left, right, forward, and behind it would seem he would be forced to use that… Of all Nin’s ability it was the only one he disliked, reserved for only the direst of situations due to its terrible consequences, yet it would seem he had no other choice. Remembering Basileus’s momentary discomfort from the sound of his blow back roar, he unleashed a terrible shout the concussive force bounding forward as he leapt up and over the disks coming from his side, mid leap the very air around him shook and vibrated as his skin turned blood red and his entire body rapidly shifted. A blood red spiked exoskeleton covered his body and his power skyrocketed. The true form of his hate and vanity, formam daemonis, though he could only hold it for a limited time the power it gave him was incomparable doubling his speed, strength, and endurance was just the tip of the iceberg.

With his transformation almost complete, he set off to attempt to end this fight quickly. Four skeletal hands burst from the ground around Basileus their hands curved into fists aiming for his kidneys, stomach and jaw, though the melachsee energy would prevent them from doing any serious damage their previous resistance to it would mean they could at least strike him before his disk could fully form and the lances fired where Nin once was. However, that would not end the assault, he would swoop in using his new speed to swoop in from the above right slamming his shield up and into the Halo above Basileus, hoping his already monstrous strength doubled plus the speed of his charge would allow him to push back if not shatter the ring. Directly after impact he would bring his sword down towards Basileus, with two lightning fast strikes aiming for his opponents skull then shoulder. He then charged again to get behind the man and slam his back with his shield before pushing off through his wraith which had already assumed it’s masters new form as it charged, shifted and exploded to cover its masters retreat.

High above the low rumble now reached a thundering beat, as the army of hell reached the fourth level. They would be upon them soon, and worse Nins new form was incredible only because it barely lasted any time at all, soon he would suffer the consequences of assuming it, he had to end the fight and reach shelter soon, or he would surely die.

When Basileus's attacks closed in on him, Nin let out another one of those screams again that made him flinch. Using the opening, his opponent lept up and out of the death-trap of rings Basileus had created. Four more of the hands rose from the ground and tried to beat him appart. He wasn't sure what good it would do, all that happened was he was thrown a little forward. His Lances were inturupted abd he didn't bother re-creating them. And then his opponent smashed his shield into Basileus's halo. His streangth was enormous--the halo normally floated one and a half feet over his head, but it was now pushed down to inches.

Immediately, Basileus returned his rings to the halo, widening it to a one-ringed, foot-and-a-half-in-diameter black circle to a nearly-eight-foot-wide halo of six black energy bands. And just in time. Just as his opponent hit, three rings were back in place. By the time Nin brought his sword down to catch his head, it merely hit his fifth and sixth rings, the whole halo just barely too wide to reach around. Only now did Basileus notice the red armor that had appeared on his opponent. This was probably not good. But he was confident he could deal with it until they had to make their escape. It would be very soon now.

Finally, his opponent leapt down behindhim and slammed his shield into his back. Basileus was thrown nearly to the ground and as he got what must have been an illusion blew up in his face, clouding his sight. When the dust cleared enough to see, Basileus located and found the figure of Nin. For a moment he didn't do anything but stare and smile. "See, this is much more fun when you're not trying to play mind games, isn't it?" he said, his voice only giving away a little of the fatigue he felt. Then he created a Disk in each one, his normal, hand -to-hand ones, and hurled them to either side of Nin, at the same time firing another large sphere of black energy directly at him, and finally creating his Gattling Lances right behind it. He then leapt at his opponent, merely trying to get within his two meter range.

Nin smiled as his shield struck, the blow made contact with his opponent and on top of that he had learned some very important. The halo like the rest of his opponent’s attacks could be batted away with his shield. However the defensive capabilities of those rings remained as troublesome as their offensive tactics. Basileus spoke and Nin smiled how little the man truly understood this fight, all fights were mind games every battle was 80% mental. However he wasn’t given time to retort as Basileus threw two of his disks at him followed immediately by one of the large spheres he had seen previously in the miasma. With moments to react and the ever-present reminder that both his transformation and their time before the guardian arrived was about to run out he decided that he would need a direct tactic here. Since his opponents’ attack had been horizontally symmetrical and straightforward he decided a new tactic was in order. Unleashing a silent Banshee’s wail he charged forward slamming his shield as it expanded into the attack and rolling left with the impact. The small disk slammed into his exposed back right shoulder blade, but his increased endurance coupled with the reducing abilities of hell’s cloak mitigated most of the damage leaving a small cut along his already wounded shoulder. Nonetheless such an inconvenience wouldn’t slow down his current form.

Spinning away from the damage he contracted his shield and saw his opponent leap into the air, charging his former position. Knowing he would never have an opportunity such as this again he decided to risk it especially since the guardians of Hell had become so loud they we’re obviously only seconds away from arrival. Four skeletal hands rose from the ground attacking symmetrically from Basileus’s front, back, right, and left. Hoping to use the momentary distraction to end the fight he charged forward shield first he would strike from Basileus’s front right, though it would appear to be left. His shield would lead slamming into and hopefully breaking Basileus’s ribs before his sword came down to sever his head. At the speed and minimal distance of the attack Basileus would possibly be able to hit the momentary hole created when Nin added the arc to the right to use the advantage created by banshee’s shriek. Either way the end of this attack would determine who would win, who would die, who would rule, who would serve.

In the distance the armies of hell stormed forward seconds from their prey. Regardless of the outcome only one thought would pass through Nin’s mind at the second the guardian’s arrived. ‘Is this what you saw Xotol… You coward… I loved you.’

~Final Post~

(OoC: This was a fun fight buddy best of luck with the ‘grading’ (couldn’t think of a better word) and I’ll see you at the sinners meeting either way )

Basileus was stopped suddenly by the appearance of four of the skeletal hands. He let them hit and held his position as the hands consumed by the black energy that charged his body. He couldn't decide what the purpose of this was, until he saw his opponent charging in, shield raised, slightly to Basileus's left. He sent three rings out to his left to intercept his opponent. There was a moment of confusion as the rings shot to his right, and then, barely too late, he realized what had happened. The strange directional shift he had experienced earlier must be back. In a desperate, quick move, he brought all of the other three rings into the few inches between him and Nin. Even with said protection, he was thrown to the ground.

He looked up and saw the sword closing in on him as if in slow motion. And behind it, in the background, the guardians of Hell, now upon them. It was too late for anything now. His only moves be few and desperate now. He was bringing back the three he had mistakenly sent out. If they were to arrive, it would be through his enemy's neck and back. But even they were too far away to arive in time to save him. And so, in a last ditch bid for survival, he rolled halfway, launching his arm up, his fingers barred like claws, towards his opponent's chest, the energy charging his body ready to consume Nin's skin, his flesh, until it reached his heart.