04-01-2015, 07:17 PM
Dio would sigh as he remembered all of a sudden that he was working with an actual child among his number, someone still full of all the curiosity and disgusting ignorance that comes with a lack of world experience. Thus it was with a pinch of the bridge of his nose that he would contemplate for a moment about what exactly he should tell Aang while under the perhaps more genuine than he'd like to admit veil of frustration he put up. He definitely didn't want people just knowing about his powers, a good chunk of the usability his powers came from the surprise factor of finding that time had been frozen for you, and that before you had even been aware of what was going on you'd come to find yourself mauled. However he doubted that Kuzan would have any objections to such a group show and tell so that left him with very few options that would leave him in the at least personable light that Aang currently saw him in. The issue in regards to avoiding it was that if the rest of the group divulged anything new then even he, Dio, having come off as the mysterious force that he had so far couldn't just get away with simply showing them something they'd already seen back at the party, and if he revealed his ice powers here they may connect it to the murder of Homura back in the building. However he would show them just a taste, Dio closing his eyes as he'd focus in and from the ethereal realm within his soul he would call forth the energy to materialize The World, a man coalescing from the energy in Dio's body to stand behind him and mimic his cross armed pose.
"This is my power, my stand, The World. It's essentially another set of arms and legs every bit as strong as I am, and when I put my mind to it I can put my hand through a stone wall as easily as you breathe. It's a simple minded construct, but it's power is undeniable, so powerful are it's fists that when it strikes someone it shatters their personal flow of time, slowing them down and disorienting them as they're essentially skipped back and forth through instances of time."
Thankfully he wouldn't need to reveal anymore than this, Kuzan seeming to be keep this to himself as well or Dio would've felt pretty pressured here to at least make up some kind of lie that would have come to light later in the evening. That didn't mean anything good for him other than that however as he had desired to at least come up with the lie of only having the powers they'd seen so far for the sake of baiting potential traitors into action thinking they knew every card up his sleeve. After all, his personal strength, speed, and endurance coupled with his summoning an other worldly being to fight with him was already incredibly impressive, but it was absolutely essential that no one know the true nature of his stand if he could help it so that he could retain that advantage if they ever decided to betray him. A series of events that were all but foretold in the case of Aang and a certainty more obvious than the dawn in Kuzan's case. He knew that these were temporary pawns unless he managed to magic up some method of mind control for primes, but knowing that omni bastard and his dedication to keeping things interesting that was likely as possible at his current level as defeating Diablo. Thus, he would only reveal this portion of his power for now, hoping to keep the rest of his abilities in reserve in case any of the men assembled here got any funny ideas about becoming a hero, and though he could count on the naivete of Aang and the uncaring nature of Kuzan to last through the battle with The Tarrasque, he wasn't so sure that it would last any longer.
This Atelos on the other hand, this spartan who dared to interfere in the group management of people he had barely met and for him berating them for being dragged behind schedule for some lay about prime equivalent to a homeless person was irritating to say the least. It took a great deal of restraint for him not to just reach his hand inside his chest and pull that sniveling bastard's heart out through his throat. However, to do so would be in violation of the training he'd done for centuries to reign his emotions back in, and it was thanks to this training that outwardly that mask of normalcy he wore showed not even so much as a crack as they'd have their little exchange, the spartan's demeanor changing when he was reminded of the fact that like most primes not a single one of them was special for just being. Power meant nothing in the hands of those unwilling to use it, and it was quite clear from the lack of this man's attire and the general state he was in that he hadn't seen the right side of a bathhouse in years. However, when Dio mounted the horse and the spartan spoke it was almost as if a different person was saying those words, whereas earlier the bastard had the insane gall to try to interrupt him. As his eyes found the spartan who's eyes now burned with an ambitious fire all too familiar for Dio, his personality seeming to shift before his eyes, everything from his demeanor to his stance having shifted in a second.
This development would identify this spartan as a suspicious character in Dio's eyes. An instant demeanor shift like that was either some attempt to fool him into thinking he'd be a compatible member of the group, or a demonstration of actual insanity. He still wasn't sure on the rules but it could be possible to have a prime split personality, given the nature of how beings are brought here and their physical bodies being omnilium Dio had a sneaking suspicion that perhaps this man had been brought along as an extra passenger for the true prime inside him. Perhaps he had a serial killer alternate personality and that was why Omni had taken interest in a man who was so bland and pedestrian he wouldn't be out of place at a bingo tournament. Though perhaps he had a personality that wasn't some goody two shoes looking for a fight with a boss that comes in to tell his employees off for sitting on their proverbial asses. That wasn't even a particularly evil thing he had done when he'd come in, he hadn't started beating them with a rod or called them slaves. Still, his ego wouldn't let this slight to his honor and intent stand. After all, if he allowed this challenger from nowhere to even step within a thousand miles of his authority he'd look weaker to his subordinates. Thus he met that ambitious fire with one of his own, his glare turning ice cold as he'd focus in on the spartan who had dared to try and question the will of Dio.
"What right do you have to tell me how to lead my men? I'm the leader of this hunting party and these primes were delayed several hours by your appearance, and while I cannot fault them for stopping to deal with a potential enemy infiltrator I can fault them for not doing so swiftly. That you'd follow this up by trying to sow dissent in the group and questioning the leadership of the man clearly giving orders around here identifies you either as a naive child who doesn't understand the gravity of the task before us and the importance of maintaining discipline in the face of death, or the world's worst spy. Because in case you haven't heard The Tarrasque is rampaging through towns as we speak, and we ill need. On the flip side of the same coin the fact that we need all the help we can get is in fact self evident. So you can either fight alongside us or crawl back into whatever hole you came out of. I, Dio, will continue my efforts to make this a land worthy of it's inhabitants either way."
He'd say turning away from the spartan as he'd give a derisive click of his tongue before getting into the back of the wagon that contained the crate of thermal detonators, turning the explosives over in his hand as he'd carefully observe each one for cracks or damages to the casing, discarding a few that were obviously below par before taking one and heading down towards the basin where the holy whips were blessed, dousing each of the detonators and covering his hands and face with the blessed water as he'd say
"There has been a small change of plans, it's come to light that The Tarrasque is a creature of hell, and in order to do meaningful damage we'll need to have some manner of holy weapon on top of the fire we discussed earlier. It's also a creature powered by an artifact known as The Sin heart, a relic of hell that amplifies the power of demons around it and draws the evil out of men's souls to drive them to treachery. Thus, I want all of you to bless your weapons and douse whatever exposed flesh you have in this holy oil to try and put a damper on these effects. I want no surprises from the back line in this fight."
He'd say as he'd rub himself down. This aura of that drew evil out of good people was of course a lie, evil people would find their murderous desires amplified but this was simply too easy an excuse to make on the spot. This would allow him to take any of them out during the fight if they started to show signs that they would betray him or his secrets, and having this kinds of back doors and outs were the very core of Dio's plans, as he'd been taught quite clearly by that Johnathon Joestar in his Home world that repeating a murder using the same methods or leaving little tidbits like that damnable letter was like handing your enemies all the evidence they needed to damn you. Now however, if he saw someone was becoming a problem they'd be as easy to kill as a sleeping babe. In all likelihood he wouldn't even get questioned if he did so to the "other" in the group named Atelos.
This lie wasn't without cost however, but it was a planned bit of give and take for the observant members of the party. Here Dio was allowing anyone watching to get the precious tidbit of information here that Dio wasn't actually vulnerable to blessed or holy relics at all. His body being literally covered in the blessed water of one of the human priests, a bit he'd let slip towards Atelos to reinforce his earlier points. After all, if any of them were familiar with any version of vampire mythology it'd be quite apparent that he wasn't damned in any way shape or form. Though, the vileness in his heart and the evil in his mind left him feeling slimy as he was covered by the blessed oils that would normally shroud a noble person in the warmth and love of the god or goddess the shrine was dedicated to.
Finishing the alterations to the detonators done he'd toss them back into the box and head into the stables, As he took the reigns in hand, he'd bring a leg up and place a boot into the stirrup pushing down and himself up to mount the horse. As Dio would take his place in the saddle, one could almost swear he was smiling as he looked down at the reigns and read the name embroidered into them aloud. "Silver Bullet?" Dio said, an instantly he felt something in his mind click. He knew that he felt some strange attraction towards the stables. Yet the feeling of riding this horse was simply too natural, as if he was meant to ride it in some other time and place. The natural motion and flow of their movement giving off the impression that this was a destined horse and rider pair.
He'd say looking down at the brown Arabian thoroughbred he'd mounted, give it's mane the closest thing to an affectionate stroke he'd ever given in his life, an alabaster hand brushing through the silver mane, a star emblazoned where the neck met the flank of the beast, an oddity that brought a chuckle to Dio's lips as he'd turn towards the group with a smirk, his horse giving a whinny as it and it's rider turned towards the yet to be mounted group. He was honestly grateful that things had turned out as they had so far, these easily manipulated pawns had popped up one after another, and even when someone had shown up from the enemy faction the most he'd been met with was the glare of disapproval towards what were honestly completely normal orders to give. However he also knew that every single thing that had happened until now had been carefully orchestrated and that he was not here because he had lucked into discovering this, Mephisto had chosen him because of his arrogant demeanor as a test to see if he was worthy to keep around, he'd tailed that patrol for days before finally striking at the perfect moment to earn his way into Dracula's faction, and now he was about to meet the charge of a building sized hell spawn with a solid plan and a prepared group of men at his back. However, he still had to make them aware of that plan, and thus turning towards his men and he'd address them properly as a group.
"The plan is as such. The Tarrasque is currently rampaging through a town known as Writou. From my cartography research earlier we know that it's situated on fairly hilly terrain about an hour south of here. Unfortunately this means we wont be able to collapse a cliff on it as planned. However, the ground underneath is filled with tunnels and judging by the limestone quarry a few miles off that means that the ground is soft and porous. Thus, I'll be entrusting Alain and Aang to handle planting charges in the path to create a controlled collapse beneath the beast. This wont keep it down for long though so I'll be needing everyone to pour on every ounce of power at that point, if anyone has any disabling abilities they think can work on that scale use them when the collapse happens to buy Aang and Alain time to plant more charges to detonate beneath the beast again and escape. When the second detonation happens I will go in with my stand The World and use the remaining charges to attempt to blast a hole through it's hide and into the sin heart. There, we will converge and use every ounce of power we have to destroy the monster's core in a single blast. If we fail the monster's heart will regenerate and the mission will be a failure so I want you to dedicate every ounce of your being to this task and put your faith in my research. Now we have no time to waste. Every second is someone's home destroyed or a valiant fighter who dies trying to slow it down, mount a horse, grab as many detonators as you can carry, and follow me!"
He'd say grabbing and hoisting one of the crates off the wagon and perching it against his shoulder, fastening a leather set of reins into a makeshift harness to carry it as he'd ride out towards the south, taking off down the path at breakneck speeds, his body low to the horse as they'd sprint off towards the location, Dio intending to be the advanced party for intercepting the Tarrasque, knowing full well that with his time stop abilities he would be the most likely to survive first contact with the terrible power of that despicable aberration.
As he stormed through the gates on his steed his group in tow, the mansion was not idle. The Skeleton man he had brushed off earlier was currently crying for mercy, a blade to his neck, and a rather annoyed looking Mephisto looking down on him, information flowing like water from the skeleton noble as he'd beg for the chance to at least leave this place alive. However, Mephisto would have none of this. He had no desire to grant shelter to these pitiable refugees from those backwater hamlets. This was the glorious manse of a former Prince of Hell, and the last thing he was going to become was the director of a shelter for those to weak to face a monster like The Tarrasque. Thus he'd merely nod towards Sebastian, who with the flick of a blade decapitated the intruding pest, the butler immediately taking to the arduous task of cleansing the beautiful rug of that pitiable reject. As he busied himself with that task, a servant came in and bowed towards The Prince of Lies as she'd relay the information Dio had shared with his group, namely about The Tarrasque being a last minute creation of Diablo and the reason why The Heart of Sin had vanished from the core of the Tower in hell. This information would do nothing more than illicit a simple chuckle from The Damnable Demon. Turning and walking towards the door he'd raise a curtain out towards the storm, watching the downpour as the riders rode away from his manor, knowing that at long last things were going to get interesting in The Pale Moors. Walking back towards the living area he'd take a seat in a luxurious armchair and extend a hand, a wineglass materializing within it as he'd say to the remaining servants within the manor.
"Do not fret child, for this is all within my calculations. You see, this Dio Brando thinks that he's the only one moving pieces in the game of chess that the moors has become, but that's simply because he has yet to see anyone else as a player in our little game. Let him do as he wills for now, after all that bastard Dracula has sat unopposed on that bloody throne of his for far too long. Let this serve as the usurpers second test to see if he is worthy to compete for the mantle of ruler in this world of killers and demons."
"This is my power, my stand, The World. It's essentially another set of arms and legs every bit as strong as I am, and when I put my mind to it I can put my hand through a stone wall as easily as you breathe. It's a simple minded construct, but it's power is undeniable, so powerful are it's fists that when it strikes someone it shatters their personal flow of time, slowing them down and disorienting them as they're essentially skipped back and forth through instances of time."
Thankfully he wouldn't need to reveal anymore than this, Kuzan seeming to be keep this to himself as well or Dio would've felt pretty pressured here to at least make up some kind of lie that would have come to light later in the evening. That didn't mean anything good for him other than that however as he had desired to at least come up with the lie of only having the powers they'd seen so far for the sake of baiting potential traitors into action thinking they knew every card up his sleeve. After all, his personal strength, speed, and endurance coupled with his summoning an other worldly being to fight with him was already incredibly impressive, but it was absolutely essential that no one know the true nature of his stand if he could help it so that he could retain that advantage if they ever decided to betray him. A series of events that were all but foretold in the case of Aang and a certainty more obvious than the dawn in Kuzan's case. He knew that these were temporary pawns unless he managed to magic up some method of mind control for primes, but knowing that omni bastard and his dedication to keeping things interesting that was likely as possible at his current level as defeating Diablo. Thus, he would only reveal this portion of his power for now, hoping to keep the rest of his abilities in reserve in case any of the men assembled here got any funny ideas about becoming a hero, and though he could count on the naivete of Aang and the uncaring nature of Kuzan to last through the battle with The Tarrasque, he wasn't so sure that it would last any longer.
This Atelos on the other hand, this spartan who dared to interfere in the group management of people he had barely met and for him berating them for being dragged behind schedule for some lay about prime equivalent to a homeless person was irritating to say the least. It took a great deal of restraint for him not to just reach his hand inside his chest and pull that sniveling bastard's heart out through his throat. However, to do so would be in violation of the training he'd done for centuries to reign his emotions back in, and it was thanks to this training that outwardly that mask of normalcy he wore showed not even so much as a crack as they'd have their little exchange, the spartan's demeanor changing when he was reminded of the fact that like most primes not a single one of them was special for just being. Power meant nothing in the hands of those unwilling to use it, and it was quite clear from the lack of this man's attire and the general state he was in that he hadn't seen the right side of a bathhouse in years. However, when Dio mounted the horse and the spartan spoke it was almost as if a different person was saying those words, whereas earlier the bastard had the insane gall to try to interrupt him. As his eyes found the spartan who's eyes now burned with an ambitious fire all too familiar for Dio, his personality seeming to shift before his eyes, everything from his demeanor to his stance having shifted in a second.
This development would identify this spartan as a suspicious character in Dio's eyes. An instant demeanor shift like that was either some attempt to fool him into thinking he'd be a compatible member of the group, or a demonstration of actual insanity. He still wasn't sure on the rules but it could be possible to have a prime split personality, given the nature of how beings are brought here and their physical bodies being omnilium Dio had a sneaking suspicion that perhaps this man had been brought along as an extra passenger for the true prime inside him. Perhaps he had a serial killer alternate personality and that was why Omni had taken interest in a man who was so bland and pedestrian he wouldn't be out of place at a bingo tournament. Though perhaps he had a personality that wasn't some goody two shoes looking for a fight with a boss that comes in to tell his employees off for sitting on their proverbial asses. That wasn't even a particularly evil thing he had done when he'd come in, he hadn't started beating them with a rod or called them slaves. Still, his ego wouldn't let this slight to his honor and intent stand. After all, if he allowed this challenger from nowhere to even step within a thousand miles of his authority he'd look weaker to his subordinates. Thus he met that ambitious fire with one of his own, his glare turning ice cold as he'd focus in on the spartan who had dared to try and question the will of Dio.
"What right do you have to tell me how to lead my men? I'm the leader of this hunting party and these primes were delayed several hours by your appearance, and while I cannot fault them for stopping to deal with a potential enemy infiltrator I can fault them for not doing so swiftly. That you'd follow this up by trying to sow dissent in the group and questioning the leadership of the man clearly giving orders around here identifies you either as a naive child who doesn't understand the gravity of the task before us and the importance of maintaining discipline in the face of death, or the world's worst spy. Because in case you haven't heard The Tarrasque is rampaging through towns as we speak, and we ill need. On the flip side of the same coin the fact that we need all the help we can get is in fact self evident. So you can either fight alongside us or crawl back into whatever hole you came out of. I, Dio, will continue my efforts to make this a land worthy of it's inhabitants either way."
He'd say turning away from the spartan as he'd give a derisive click of his tongue before getting into the back of the wagon that contained the crate of thermal detonators, turning the explosives over in his hand as he'd carefully observe each one for cracks or damages to the casing, discarding a few that were obviously below par before taking one and heading down towards the basin where the holy whips were blessed, dousing each of the detonators and covering his hands and face with the blessed water as he'd say
"There has been a small change of plans, it's come to light that The Tarrasque is a creature of hell, and in order to do meaningful damage we'll need to have some manner of holy weapon on top of the fire we discussed earlier. It's also a creature powered by an artifact known as The Sin heart, a relic of hell that amplifies the power of demons around it and draws the evil out of men's souls to drive them to treachery. Thus, I want all of you to bless your weapons and douse whatever exposed flesh you have in this holy oil to try and put a damper on these effects. I want no surprises from the back line in this fight."
He'd say as he'd rub himself down. This aura of that drew evil out of good people was of course a lie, evil people would find their murderous desires amplified but this was simply too easy an excuse to make on the spot. This would allow him to take any of them out during the fight if they started to show signs that they would betray him or his secrets, and having this kinds of back doors and outs were the very core of Dio's plans, as he'd been taught quite clearly by that Johnathon Joestar in his Home world that repeating a murder using the same methods or leaving little tidbits like that damnable letter was like handing your enemies all the evidence they needed to damn you. Now however, if he saw someone was becoming a problem they'd be as easy to kill as a sleeping babe. In all likelihood he wouldn't even get questioned if he did so to the "other" in the group named Atelos.
This lie wasn't without cost however, but it was a planned bit of give and take for the observant members of the party. Here Dio was allowing anyone watching to get the precious tidbit of information here that Dio wasn't actually vulnerable to blessed or holy relics at all. His body being literally covered in the blessed water of one of the human priests, a bit he'd let slip towards Atelos to reinforce his earlier points. After all, if any of them were familiar with any version of vampire mythology it'd be quite apparent that he wasn't damned in any way shape or form. Though, the vileness in his heart and the evil in his mind left him feeling slimy as he was covered by the blessed oils that would normally shroud a noble person in the warmth and love of the god or goddess the shrine was dedicated to.
Finishing the alterations to the detonators done he'd toss them back into the box and head into the stables, As he took the reigns in hand, he'd bring a leg up and place a boot into the stirrup pushing down and himself up to mount the horse. As Dio would take his place in the saddle, one could almost swear he was smiling as he looked down at the reigns and read the name embroidered into them aloud. "Silver Bullet?" Dio said, an instantly he felt something in his mind click. He knew that he felt some strange attraction towards the stables. Yet the feeling of riding this horse was simply too natural, as if he was meant to ride it in some other time and place. The natural motion and flow of their movement giving off the impression that this was a destined horse and rider pair.
He'd say looking down at the brown Arabian thoroughbred he'd mounted, give it's mane the closest thing to an affectionate stroke he'd ever given in his life, an alabaster hand brushing through the silver mane, a star emblazoned where the neck met the flank of the beast, an oddity that brought a chuckle to Dio's lips as he'd turn towards the group with a smirk, his horse giving a whinny as it and it's rider turned towards the yet to be mounted group. He was honestly grateful that things had turned out as they had so far, these easily manipulated pawns had popped up one after another, and even when someone had shown up from the enemy faction the most he'd been met with was the glare of disapproval towards what were honestly completely normal orders to give. However he also knew that every single thing that had happened until now had been carefully orchestrated and that he was not here because he had lucked into discovering this, Mephisto had chosen him because of his arrogant demeanor as a test to see if he was worthy to keep around, he'd tailed that patrol for days before finally striking at the perfect moment to earn his way into Dracula's faction, and now he was about to meet the charge of a building sized hell spawn with a solid plan and a prepared group of men at his back. However, he still had to make them aware of that plan, and thus turning towards his men and he'd address them properly as a group.
"The plan is as such. The Tarrasque is currently rampaging through a town known as Writou. From my cartography research earlier we know that it's situated on fairly hilly terrain about an hour south of here. Unfortunately this means we wont be able to collapse a cliff on it as planned. However, the ground underneath is filled with tunnels and judging by the limestone quarry a few miles off that means that the ground is soft and porous. Thus, I'll be entrusting Alain and Aang to handle planting charges in the path to create a controlled collapse beneath the beast. This wont keep it down for long though so I'll be needing everyone to pour on every ounce of power at that point, if anyone has any disabling abilities they think can work on that scale use them when the collapse happens to buy Aang and Alain time to plant more charges to detonate beneath the beast again and escape. When the second detonation happens I will go in with my stand The World and use the remaining charges to attempt to blast a hole through it's hide and into the sin heart. There, we will converge and use every ounce of power we have to destroy the monster's core in a single blast. If we fail the monster's heart will regenerate and the mission will be a failure so I want you to dedicate every ounce of your being to this task and put your faith in my research. Now we have no time to waste. Every second is someone's home destroyed or a valiant fighter who dies trying to slow it down, mount a horse, grab as many detonators as you can carry, and follow me!"
He'd say grabbing and hoisting one of the crates off the wagon and perching it against his shoulder, fastening a leather set of reins into a makeshift harness to carry it as he'd ride out towards the south, taking off down the path at breakneck speeds, his body low to the horse as they'd sprint off towards the location, Dio intending to be the advanced party for intercepting the Tarrasque, knowing full well that with his time stop abilities he would be the most likely to survive first contact with the terrible power of that despicable aberration.
As he stormed through the gates on his steed his group in tow, the mansion was not idle. The Skeleton man he had brushed off earlier was currently crying for mercy, a blade to his neck, and a rather annoyed looking Mephisto looking down on him, information flowing like water from the skeleton noble as he'd beg for the chance to at least leave this place alive. However, Mephisto would have none of this. He had no desire to grant shelter to these pitiable refugees from those backwater hamlets. This was the glorious manse of a former Prince of Hell, and the last thing he was going to become was the director of a shelter for those to weak to face a monster like The Tarrasque. Thus he'd merely nod towards Sebastian, who with the flick of a blade decapitated the intruding pest, the butler immediately taking to the arduous task of cleansing the beautiful rug of that pitiable reject. As he busied himself with that task, a servant came in and bowed towards The Prince of Lies as she'd relay the information Dio had shared with his group, namely about The Tarrasque being a last minute creation of Diablo and the reason why The Heart of Sin had vanished from the core of the Tower in hell. This information would do nothing more than illicit a simple chuckle from The Damnable Demon. Turning and walking towards the door he'd raise a curtain out towards the storm, watching the downpour as the riders rode away from his manor, knowing that at long last things were going to get interesting in The Pale Moors. Walking back towards the living area he'd take a seat in a luxurious armchair and extend a hand, a wineglass materializing within it as he'd say to the remaining servants within the manor.
"Do not fret child, for this is all within my calculations. You see, this Dio Brando thinks that he's the only one moving pieces in the game of chess that the moors has become, but that's simply because he has yet to see anyone else as a player in our little game. Let him do as he wills for now, after all that bastard Dracula has sat unopposed on that bloody throne of his for far too long. Let this serve as the usurpers second test to see if he is worthy to compete for the mantle of ruler in this world of killers and demons."