Zone X -- The Colosseum

[Deadpool]

Both swords impacted Jak's hands with enough force to divide a normal man in two, but with enlarge claws, he caught each blade like a flytrap swallowing an insect. He was no longer a normal man; his olive skin lost any amount of melanin it had, his hair turned from green to ghost white, and energy exfoliated from his body in the form of sporadic, violet-colored electricity.

”A-Albino Jak,” Deadpool stammered.

Shinmen relinquished his sword without hesitation,  and momentarily withdrew from the combat to reassess the situation. He retreated to the rim of the arena, beside one of the barred entrances designed to usher in enslaved gladiators.

The mercenary remained as still as a statue, paralyzed by the shock of the sudden transformation; by the time he snapped from it, the monstrosity now known as Albino Jak was tugging on his blade, attempting to strip the sword from his grip.

”Gimme my sword back,” he shouted, ”you typical PG-10, second-class console system mascot!”

Jak drew his lips back in a snarl, revealing a mouthful of fang-like teeth.  Then in one swing, he launched the mercenary to the other side the arena; a camera wired overhead zipped in pursuit (Karl preserved zero expenses in the production of this year's Dante's Abyss, assuring that his fanbase would be glued to their screens, enamored with the crisp visuals).

Deadpool tumbled across Karl's death-pit as if he were ejected from a moving vehicle. He came to an abrupt stop when his back slammed into the stone wall of the ring. A fissure seemingly sprouted from behind the crown of his head—it ran up the wall unevenly before bending where the parapet turned into a balcony for the first tier of seats.

”Paaaaaiiin,” he groaned.

He returned to is feet with hunched shoulders, wincing as his back throbbed in pain. His muscles felt like they were pounded by a butcher wielding a heavy mallet. When he attempted to correct his posture a twinge shot cold daggers into his spine.

”Ok!” he cried, hunching back over as he grabbed the small of his back. ”Go narrate someone else for a little. I'm just gonna try to walk this off real quick.”

On the opposite side of the arena, Shinmen was charging towards Albino Jak. The monstrosity threw both swords he had stolen over his shoulders, and went to slash the samurai with crisscrossing claws. Shinmen avoided the attack by halting just short of Jak's range, then side-stepped passed him in order to retrieve his weapon.

Jak followed. With one powerful leap, he catapulted himself into the air.

”Ok, back to our protagonist,” Deadpool said.

He stood straight, pistol wrapped in each fist. They were pointed towards Albino Jak, chasing him.

“Simon says: shoot him in his thighs and legs,” he quipped before pulling his triggers.

He anticipated the booming sound of dispensed led, punctuated by pleasant shrieks of despair. Instead, he received the sound of crickets. The slides of his guns pulled back, but never unloaded any bullets.  They sat crooked over his barrels, partially dislodged near the handles.

”Are you fucking serious!?” How do both guns jam?”

The mercenary spat abuse at his firearms, recalling curse words he knew in various languages, before sending the pistol in his left hand back to its holster, and focusing on the one in his right hand. He continuously tried to rack the slide back into alignment. It would glide on the barrel as smoothly as always, but whenever he let go, it would dislodge again near the handle.

He pushed a dense sigh of exasperation through his mask as he hanged his head. ”This is just really disappointing.”

After sending the second pistol to its holster, Deadpool reached over his shoulder and unsheathed his last katana. He squeezed the hilt in both hands, affirming a tight grip, then rushed in Albino Jak's direction.  

Meanwhile, Shinmen's legs were pumping faster than the connecting rods that turned the wheels to a locomotive, but Albino Jak's enhanced speed closed the gap between them quicker than he had expected. The monstrosity took an arching swipe at him, but missed as the samurai instinctively ducked into a ball and rolled the remaining distance to his weapon. He snatched it from the gravel floor, then spun around, preparing to impale the monstrosity as if it were a bucking horse.

725 words by wordcounter.net's count; not sure what that translate into, but pretty sure it's under 800 words.

Deadpool attempted to use his dual pistols, but they both jammed on him. They're unusable until further notice.

[Oleander]

The oddity that was this shape-shifting man had been seen once before, with Yuki becoming Erika. Takezo found it strange, but this seemed a fair bit different. Erika seemed to be another person, but this one seemed to be an alternate, empowered version of its previous... host? Whatever it was, it appeared to be faster and stronger than before. However, it did not appear to have any favorites, and the ronin used that to his advantage.

"Albino Jak" by the Red-Man's words, had chosen to go after the mouthy one. Previous history, Takezo assumed. A smirk formed as he stood. The mercenary ran at Jak, as Jak ran at him. Deadpool seeks to draw a nice big X right on Jak's face, to brighten his features a bit. Takezo was quickly following behind Jak. He was not being sneaky, but the stomping feet of the rampaging beast was more than enough to cover his approach.

Deadpool's daring strike goes awry, one sword landing across Jak's shoulder as the other finds its way back into Jak's hand. The fearsome transformation's other hand reached out to grab Deadpool with a mighty hand wrapped around his face.

Deadpool releaseed the captured sword and pulled a painted sign from nowhere. "Uh oh." Wily Coyote style. Jak also dropped the sword and was about to add raking claws to the crushing grip on Deadpool's head, but the claws never came.

Instead, Takezo took the opportunity to dash in on the focused Jak. He planted a foot on the transformation's back to step up and use the new altitude to slash downwards with as mighty a cut as he could muster. The blade planted in Jak's shoulder, earning a roar of pain, before the demon swordsman thrust downwards, lacerating through as much of the man's back as possible. The crimson that poured from the wound was oh so satisfying.

With the massive strike, the one-sighted blood-thirsty Jak released Deadpool. As pain racked his body, Takezo made a quick dash to pick up Deadpool's sword before vying for distance. He was laughing. The deep belly laugh was like that of a child playing a game. It just so happened this, the game of blood, was the ronin's favorite game of all time.

And now Jak was racing after him. He had deadpool's sword, and this game was so much fun. Jak quickly caught up to the swordsman, but was not quite expecting what came next. Even as he raked with powerful claws, Takezo turned and fell backwards onto his back, planting the hilts of the swords on the ground with the blades up. As Jak's hands rake along Takezo's shoulders, down his chest, The swords thrust into Jak's gut. The self-destructive counter attack had them both at a loss.

The demon swordsman stares up at Dark Jak. His smirk was ever present even as his lips become the source of a stream of blood. "Your demon is weaker than mine." He twisted the swords in Jak's gut, even with the man's claws still imbedded in his chest. "Your will is weaker than mine!" Blood and spittle paint Jak's face. "YOUR HUNGER IS WEAKER THAN MINE!" With a mighty push, he drove both swords home. Takezo's strength was greater than Dark Jak's toughened hide.

Blood dripped and streamed down the swords. So much blood. Takezo had deep gashes, but Jak had numerous bleeding cuts from the ronin. To make matters worse, as he focused on one, the other always intervened. This time it was Deadpool's turn.

The red-suited mercenary near cartwheels up Jak's back and over the hunched man to land beside Jak's head. "Hey there buddy! Wow, that looks bad. Hey, are those your ribs?" Takezo gave Deadpool a WTF look. He laughed. He's seen that face plenty of times. "Don't get your panties in a twist, I got ya. Just hold 'em still."

"Really?" Takezo had Dark Jak impaled on two katana, and Jak was playing the xylophone on his ribs... this was a hell of a stale mate. Deadpool took the opportunity to leap into the air and spin. Foot extended, he unleashed a flurry of kicks across the right side of Jak's face. It was almost unatural how he stayed airborn so long, but the third kick did the job and pried Jak's claws from Takezo's chest. The Ronin released Deadpool's sword and focused only on removing his as Jak rolled off onto his back.

The ronin held his blade at the ready, panting and waiting for Deadpool to kick him while he's down.

Wordcount 797
Could not find Jak's claw moves on his Roster.
Deadpool used Tatsumaki Senpukyaku
Takezo left a number of bleeding wounds on Dark Jak.

[Karl Jak]

There was a brief flash around the three warriors, and then it went away.

The moment brought them all to a pause, and it was Deadpool who made the astute observation.

"Did we just move over 50 feet?"  The three primes turned their heads and saw a glittering, translucent wall now bisected the Colosseum.  Four beams of light appeared on the other side of the wall as Deadpool clapped his hands together. "All right, wait for it... wait for it... "

A flash of light appeared in the other side of the Colosseum.

Face to Face
Tamsin vs Lord Zedd vs Isaac Clarke vs Clownpiece

"HA!  Knew it."

The four primes shook away the haze and glanced around at the battle scars of the Colosseum.  On the other side of barrier, they saw a lunatic in spandex waving to them before he was jumped by a samurai.

"Welcome," the voice of Karl Jak declared through the speaker's on their half of the Colosseum.  "Pardon the space, but the other three are taking their time.  "Two of you are hiding in numbers.  Two of you are about to pop your battle cherry.  The winner receives a prize, and the losers get black eyes.

...Good luck!"

Word Limit: 800
Posts Per Player: 2
Time Limit: 20 hours
Random Elements: On

Post Order is:  Zedd -- Tamsin -- Clownpiece -- Isaac.

Timer starts now.

Number of fucks given by Karl about red texting Deadpool even though he's not doing that: 0

[Jak Mar]

Dark Jak growled as not one, but two fucking swords pierced his body. Yet, this Samurai was laughing in his face, and making buddy buddy with red pajamas over there. In this competition, there was no time for lovely chats over tea.

If these two wanted to play, they’d have to get past him first. Deadpool took a shining to Karl announcing a new fight right next to them. Not caring about the other fight, the dark and gruesome would come at the right time.

The samurai was too busy observing the other fight as they seemed rightfully distracted.  

Dark Jak took the pleasure in doing the dirty work as he eyed the hot sand on the ground. That gave him an idea.

He threw sand in deadpool AND Shin’s eyes, making them hold their eyes, screaming.

Couldn’t hit what you couldn’t see, right?”

In their blindness, none of them saw this coming.

Silent footsteps in the sand became running as Dark Jak took the liberty of lifting both contestants up in the air, slowly and painfully torturing them both with a claw across the neck, blood marking the ground. The blood scent in fact made him stronger. He didn’t wait and began to ruthlessly bite down on deadpool’s neck and began to pull chunks of skin off. First came the suit, then the neck skin began to painfully be ripped off, more blood beginning to fall. Blood soaked the dark beast's teeth as he didn’t care how much blood had soaked the beast’s body.

Then he did the same as deadpool did to him, He was about to gore deadpool. Shinmen began to fight back against Dark Jak’s hard grip on his neck, as he struggled in the demon’s grip as he lost air.

“You fuckers chose the wrong person to mess with.”

The dark twisted version of Jak was so pissed off, you might of thought Jak would've lost it in the process. The more twisted the process, Dark Jak was going to finish the job.

He then ripped his finger down the mercenary’s body and his claws began to rip and tear over and over and over and over. Had Dark Jak finally lost it?

Karl didn’t care. He rather enjoyed the blood being spattered.

The samurai tried to give a breath from his almost broken windpipe due to being squeezed so hard.

Where was it? That item!

Deadpool had it, not sure what it was called… But it was a mysterious one, he’d heard about it as much as Jak had.  Dark Jak dug with his bloody nails looking for something shiny and he had found it, clawing it out of deadpool’s hidden spot.

And it was…. A princess crown?

Surely this was a joke right?

Wherever that hidden spot was…

He placed it upon his head anyway just to see what it would feel like.

He felt the power lust, he was turning into something else.

Something magical.

Summary of what Jak did:
Jak remained in Dark Jak
Shinmen laughed in Dark Jak's face 
Dark Jak blinded both Deadpool and Shinmen with sand from the ground
In the distraction, Dark Jak slowly tortures the mercenary and Shinmen by lifting them by their necks off the ground 
Dark Jak tries to choke Shinmen
Dark Jak slashes Deadpool over and over in a bloody rage.
Dark Jak remembers the item from DA 15' and desperately tries to find it in case the mercenary tries to use it on him and places it on his head.

[Lord Zedd]

In a flash, a great weight had been both literally and figuratively lifted from Zedd’s shoulders. The annoying blue prime had found him, but only minutes after an unpleasant reunion he’d been whisked away to the fabled Sky Colosseum. Three others were near him, and a trio battled a distance away from them. Zedd scanned the closer ones, who all seemed to be sharing his surprise as Karl Jak announced their battle’s start.

Clownpiece broke the awkward silence that permeated this sudden turn of events. “So do we…?”

Zedd snapped his staff upwards, unleashing a lightning bolt directly at the one who dared speak before him. The bolt connected with Clownpiece and hurled her off her feet. The chaos was initiated by that sudden movement, as Isaac recognized Zedd to be the most volatile individual present. It didn’t hurt that he looked a lot like the hell-beasts the engineer was accustomed to battling. He raised his plasma cutter and unleashed a shot into Zedd’s side while he was focusing his wrath elsewhere.

The warlord was stunned by the surprisingly powerful sneak attack, and collapsed to the ground. He understood that seconds were precious in combat, so he quickly struggled to get back to his feet, but Clownpiece had already retaliated, looking for payback from the previous assault.

Zedd swung his staff upwards to strike the approaching fireball from the air, standing up as he did. With a gleeful cackle, he unleashed another lightning bolt from his staff at the fairy girl, but this time she was more than ready for it. She jumped sideways, allowing it to harmlessly sail past her and strike the invisible barrier.

Amusement filled Zedd’s black heart as he prepared to send another strike. “You’ll have to run faster to escape me, festive child!”

He never had the opportunity to attack again, as the lumbering suit of armor had closed the gap between them during the distraction. Zedd heard the clanking of the metallic suit, and turned in time to see Issac standing beside him. Though he tried to move his staff into a defensive position, Isaac had already raised his leg and delivered a mighty kick.

Zedd was knocked away with much more force, this time, and was sent sprawling across the area, unleashing the typical expletives that accompanied things not going his way. There was some relief, in that Clownpiece’s counter attack had struck Isaac, which focused those two combatants on each other.

It gave Zedd enough time to angrily stand up and regain his senses. He saw that he was standing beside a woman dressed as a maid, and was a bit shocked that Karl Jak would drop someone like that right in the middle of the battle. But, at least they were being taken care of a little better up here, deathmatch aside.

“Servant woman!” Zedd ordered, since he had the opportunity. “Bring me a refreshment!”

The maid looked completely flabbergasted by Zedd’s demands, which only further tried his patience. He had no time or energy to expend on repeating himself, so if she wouldn’t get his instructions the first time, he would not bother a with a second. He turned away from her and casually swung his staff, anticipating that such a gesture would hurl her away from him. He had no use for an expendable pawn of someone else.

Instead, there was the loud sound of metal on metal contact, and Zedd looked over in absolute surprise to see that she had blocked his strike with some sort of crescent shaped daggers. His head jerked back in complete surprise as he tried to process what had just happened, but with an eloquent spin Tamsin moved closer to him and drove her right dagger into his shoulder.

Zedd roared in surprise as he stumbled backwards, gripping her wrist in his free hand. Oh sweet mercy, even the help in this demented game show was violent. Zedd bashed the fist that was closed around his staff into her face, and she relented. Ripping her dagger from his chest and grip, Tamsin moved backwards to put some slight distance between the two.

The wound did not slow Zedd down in the slightest, only his hesitation on what to do. He didn’t explicitly know she wasn’t a contestant, but he thought he could be forgiven for making an assumption based on appearance. She readied her weapons, then ran back at him, so Zedd unleashed a lightning bolt directly into her. She was stunned only briefly, and continued her charge. Zedd shrugged to himself and marched towards her.

He wasn’t known for discrimination in his slaughters, and he wasn’t about to start now.

793 words, by the site

[Deadpool]

As soon as the tiara was placed on Deadpool's crown, a rush of adrenaline filled the mercenary like steam building in a kettle; his heart pounded more rapidly than a college kid beating on a bass while insanely high on cocaine.

He jumped to his feet with wide eyes and trembling hands.

”Oh no,” Deadpool said. He panted heavily. ”What have you done?”

Albino Jak observed in perplexity, which quelled his sense of rage; so did Shinmen, who had overcome his stint of asphyxiation. In that moment, the two combatants became spectators like everyone else watching the fight around the Omniverse. The tiara had never been witnessed in action—it hadn't even been since Deadpool claimed it as his reward for Dante's Abyss 2015—so its capabilities were unknown to anyone (except for Karl, who may have tested its limits on some of his slaves employees).

Gurgled nonsense started to spew from the mercenary's mouth. He could feel his own throat choking him as his Adam's apple jittered up and down like a malfunctioning elevator shooting between random floors. He tried to move forward, but collapsed to one knee.

Albino Jak approached him cautiously. His right hand was balled into a fist that discharged more violet lightning, which dashed up his arm before dissipating near his clavicle. This upcoming attack had the intent of ending a life.

But Deadpool glanced at the monstrosity and winked. The gurgling sounds ceased, and the tremor in his hands vanished.

”So tell me, Jak,” he said in a calm voice, “does your race have defined genders?”

The mercenary drove an uppercut right into the center mass between Jak's legs. The rather large package kept hidden inside his knickerbockers molded to the shape of the mercenary's fist. Deadpool felt the size of his genitals crush under the force of his punch, transforming the round texture inside into mashed potatoes

A groan escaped from deep within Jak. It reminded the mercenary of someone grunting after passing a shit thought too large to push out. Except this was sweeter.

”Ya know, it was pretty ballsy of you to take a gamble with my artefact—,“ he glanced at his fist, then removed it from between Jak's quivering thighs, ”—no pun intended.”

The monstrosity collapsed to both knees, hands cupped over his man-region to coddle what remained of his testes.

”But, if your author was keeping up with my character, she'd know that my artefact is safely in its vault.” Deadpool removed the crown from his head and chucked it carelessly over his shoulder. ”That was just a decoy.”

Shimen had no interest in bloviating speeches. Once the mercenary threw his crown, the samurai dashed towards him.

”Looks like I have another client, Jak.” Deadpool located one of his katana resting on the ground near his foot. He used the tip of his boot to kick the sword into the air, and into his right hand. ”Let's reschedule—how's 4:30PM, Central Standard Time?” he quipped, gently patting Jak on the head before redirecting his focus.

Shimen swept his blade diagonally, but the mercenary caught it with an upward, decussating slash. The two blades collided with a hollow clang. He retracted his blade and tried again, but this time with a horizontal slice; Deadpool caught it again, shifting his sword to a vertical position to intercept the attack.  Another clang resounded.

The two katanas continued dancing to a rhythm only known by cold steel, stringing together more metallic sounds until it sounded like a swordsman's symphony.

Deadpool smiled. He couldn't recall the last time someone challenged his sword expertise. Shimen's strokes weren't as refined as his own, but the samurai's fiery aggression gave his wild movements power, which the mercenary could sense each time their swords clashed, and the recoil reverberated through his wrists and arms.

Yeah I can, Deadpool thought. ”Psyloche—that was the last time someone really challenged me in a sword fight (Sorry Sasuke and Mickey (not really)).

But their stalemate was beginning to bore him. The mercenary decided that samurai's next haphazard strike would be his last. When Shinmen over-arched his katana, Deadpool saw a bajillion square millimeters of space to plant his foot into the samura's gut. Shinmen's body felt like Zone-D's swamp mud against the traction of the mercenary's boot as he forced the samurai to regurgitate whatever oxygen he regained since Jak strangled him.

"Pro-tip, Samurai guy: sandals are made for beaches and biblical figures," Deadpool joked while removing foot from Shinmen's bowels. "But definitely not fighting."

Just as the samurai collapsed to the ground, that sweet 'too large of a shit' sound soothed Deadpool's ear once more. However, a sharp whistling sound interjected.

Deadpool whipped around to see Albino Jak unloading a volley of orange energy from his blaster, one hand still coddling his genitals.

799 words by word counter.net

Summary
Tiara was fake
Deadpool punched Jak in the nuts
Cool sword battle with Shinmen
Clichè cliffhanger for open-ended judgment

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face

Shinmen Takezo vs Deadpool vs Jak Mar

“Evasive maneuvers!”  Deadpool murmured as he dove to avoid the attack.  Unfortunately for the mercenary, the concentration of orange energy followed him and struck him right in the ass.  “Homing?  Who buys Homing?!”  He shouted as he rolled to avoid a downward slice from Takezo.

Shinmen sneered as he twirled his sword and thrust it down at the ever-speaking warrior.  On this occasion, Deadpool lashed out with his remaining katana, batting his aggressor’s attack off-target.  Takezo’s blade sank into the sand a few inches from the mercenary’s side.  “So,” Deadpool asked before coiling back a boot and slamming it into his opponent’s ankle.  “If you lose, do you have to kill yourself?”  Instead of waiting for an answer, Mr. Wilson scrambled up onto his feet and drilled Takezo will a leaping uppercut that sent the swordsman sailing through the air.

“Toasty!”  Deadpool decreed before a blast from Jak Mar’s blaster caught him in the gut.  The mercenary was staggered by the first energy bolt, but that left him open to the ensuing salvo, which left him staring up at the peaceful skies above Dante Island No. 17.

“Back,” Takezo’s gruff voice yelled before Dark Jak’s shadow fell over Deadpool.  “I’m going to end his incessant chatter.”

Takezo came rushing at Deadpool, who had pulled himself upright.  The mercenary’s reflexes took over and he grabbed for a pistol.  Three bullets came screaming from the barrel of the gun—the first sailed over the other swordsman’s head.  That stalled his motion, and the next two caught him in the shoulder and right above the heart.  When he hit the ground for the second time in less than a minute, Takezo clenched his teeth and failed to remain conscious.

“Awww fuck yea!”  Deadpool declared as he swung the weapon around to bear on Jak Mar.  “Back in ac—”

Click.

Just like before, the gun failed to go off—the same visible problem.  

“Oh, come on!  Fuck you, Ka-”

The barrel of Jak’s blaster crashed into the side of Deadpool’s head, but the mercenary rolled with the force of the impact and sprung to a vertical position.  His pistol back where it belonged, he drew his sword and sidestepped Dark Jak.  His pommel introduced itself into the man’s mouth, shattering a few teeth.  A slashed of the sword opened up an arching wound across Jak Mar’s back, and the ‘dynamite kid’ lost his balance and tumbled to the sand in a twisted heap.  As Deadpool watched, his opponent reverted back to his normal self.

“Ha!  KARL!”  Deadpool shouted as grabbed his other katana and held them aloft as his two competitors vanished in swirls of light.  Victory!  Silly Karl had tried to stick one to him, and here he stood, sexy and victorious!  The mercenary glanced around until he spotted one of the overhead cameras.  “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!”

The camera paused and its lens titled slightly to the side.  A familiar voice emerged.

“Archer already made that joke in the Colosseum, Mr. Wilson… You’re clearly losing your edge.”

Deadpool’s eyes widened behind his mask and something sagged in his loins as he was teleported from the Colosseum.

[spoiler]
Deadpool wins.

Shinmen takes 7 points of damage (includes Minor Injury – bum shoulder)
Jak Mar takes 7 points of damage
Deadpool takes 3 points of damage

All of you are returned to Safehouse C and are on a 24 hour (OOC) cooldown that you may waive if you desire.
[/spoiler]

[Tamsin Suzaku]

The retaliatory attacks by the red-muscled caster were not of insignificant strength, leaving the maid with a bloody nose and burning chest. As she charged forward, the space lord twirled his Z-emblazoned staff and thrust it forward with its sharper end. Crossing her crescent blades, the maid was able to subtly redirect the attack as to enable her to skid along her adversary's side. But as the slide made it difficult for her to redirect her momentum quickly, she was unable to strike his exposed back before he struck with his rod in a sweeping side motion, hitting her legs and sending her plummeting on her back.

Laughing at his foe's misfortune, the caster spoke boisterously: 'Know your place, we-AUGH!' His gloating was cut short as the blonde fairy performed a dive-bombing manoeuvre, covering him in flames. In a fit of panic, the servant scrambled onto her feet and made a dash for one of the side openings leading to the interior, her flying adversary in literal hot pursuit.

Finding refuge in the darkened hallways within, Tamsin hoped to shelter herself from the fly-by attacks. Unfortunately for her, she was not the sole person to have such a thought. Just as she rushed to reach stairs at the end of a narrow hallways, she was followed by the lumbering man of metal, the neon lights on his visor shining menacingly. Their gazes briefly met, though it was only the maid's paranoid eyes that were readily apparent. She attempted to move before noticing the three vertical dots on the wall next to her, managing to stop herself just as her foe fired the plasma projectiles. Tearing through her uniform, the energy discharges scraped her skin and sent her reeling into a corner. The narrow hallway provided even the slow engineer with an easy shot and he switched to a horizontal pattern as he took another aim. Nearly paralysed by fear, Tamsin noticed a small stone statue standing to the side. In a desperate bid, she stretched out her arm, calling upon her telekinetic powers in an attempt to block the shot.

Though she managed to tilt it just enough to get in the way of the shot, the discharge cut through the ornament effortlessly and two of the projectiles found their mark, piercing her side. A small spray of blood stained the walls as the girl cried out in pain.

This unnerved the armoured man and caused him to hesitate , but before he could decide on a course of action, a discharge of electricity struck his back. After making his presence known, the space lord laughed menacingly: 'Fools! You have made yourselves easy targets!' He unleashed another lightning bolt, this time at the maid. She barely managed to throw herself on the ground, causing the discharge to fly overhead and explode the wall behind her.

The red-muscled humanoid was ready to resume his onslaught when he was reminded of his own precarious position. 'Yoooo-hoooo!' came the soft voice from behind when a stream of flames burst inside, consuming the entire hallway. Though the engineer and alien faced the brunt of the fire, the tail end reached Tamsin as well. Her skin searing and outfit smouldering, Suzaku desperately rushed up the stairs and then rolled to put out the flames.

Making her way upstairs, the servant emerged on the stands. However, the playful fairy foresaw this movement and awaited her there. 'There you are!' she remarked with a smirk and, with a swing of her torch, blinded the blue-eyed girl with the burst of purple light she had prepared. Shielding herself from the sudden illumination, the maid looked up at the fairy. Perhaps it was due to the pain, but the mere sight of the motley fool started to chafe her — she wanted Clownpiece to go away. But all she got in response to her annoyed look was a cheeky, expectant grin.

Holding her pained side, the maid reached for the daggers strapped to her thighs and threw one of them at her aerial foe at a higher angle, causing the fairy to instinctively duck. However, as she attempted to correct her error, a second dagger managed to strike the fairy's side. Reeling from the sudden pain, the flying creature attempted a retreat, but the irate woman sprinted forward, using the fence as a jumping board to reach out to her adversary and grab her by the ankle.

Belying her small frame, the sudden weight did not cause Clownpiece to instantly plummet to the sandy ground. But she still found it troublesome, and attempted to dislodge Tamsin's grasp. Realising her error in judgment, the servant held on for dear life as she acrobatically attempted to avoid the flames aimed at her.

790/800 words, according to WordCounter.net

Summary:
Lord Zedd used Volt melee
Tamsin used Crescent Moon Knives
Clownpiece used brief Hellfire
Isaac used 211-V-Plasma Cutter
Tamsin used Telekinesis
Lord Zedd used Volt ranged
Clownpiece used charged Hellfire
Clownpiece used Lampad's Torch as debuff
Tamsin used Fangs of Gelidus
Clownpiece used brief Hellfire

[Clownpiece]

Clownpiece gritted her teeth, straining to stay aloft despite the maid latched onto her red-striped leg. She leaned forward, hellish heat welling up in her left palm, and unleashed a gout of fire at the unwanted weight. Using her leg as if it was playground equipment, Tamsin deftly swung to avoid it. This sudden shift aggravated the fractures, sending stabbing agony shooting through her foot. Blackness crawled along the edges of her vision, breaking her concentration just enough to make her hellfire snap off, but still she refused to cry out.

The star-studded girl took in a sharp breath, suppressing the pain, and lashed out at the knife-wielding maid with her torch. Magenta light streaked through the sky, painting a vibrant semi-circle that ended abruptly at Tamsin’s temple. A solid thunk sounded, Clownpiece’s arm rattling as wood crashed into bone, and the maid’s grip loosened. She took in another shaky breath, and struck down with her torch again. This time the dull thud was replaced by a meaty clap, as her enemy’s left hand shot up and grabbed hold of the wooden bludgeon. The silver-haired woman strained, dragging herself upwards like a drowning child, attempting to reach a place where she couldn’t be dislodged. Clownpiece’s eyes darted over her torch, then to the leg being clung to. Her mouth opened up in a devious, toothy grin, and she dropped the torch.

Panic flickered across Tamsin’s face as one of her supports suddenly gave away. She tossed the now-useless torch to the side, her empty hand desperately shooting back towards the safety of the leg. Her fingers dug into the star-spangled nylon, and inertia kicked into gear. The maid’s well-trimmed nails carved a path down the hell fairy’s leg, tearing bloody furrows in her skin and ragged holes in the patriotic fabric. Clownpiece let out pained breath through her teeth, followed quickly by an undignified yelp as her tights were suddenly pulled halfway down her thighs. Her hands shot down in an instant, yanking them back up as fast as she could manage. That was the final push needed, and Tamsin’s grip faltered, sending her plummeting into the sandy pit below.

With all her clothing back where it needed to be, she quickly sunk back to the ground, landing gently right next to a familiar, purple flame. Bending over, she scooped it up off the ground, and cast a quick glance around, looking for the other combatants. The silver-haired servant was slowly picking herself up off the ground, bruised and battered from her fall. Other than that, the banner-clad girl didn’t see the others, and she vaguely wondered if they were still fighting in the hall. A red flash in the corner of her vision answered that, and Clownpiece whipped around just in time to see a skinless aberration being forcefully ejected from the corridor, crashing into the ground and rolling to a halt. Her torch flared up brighter as she turned away from the downed humanoid, and she peered over towards the hallway it came from. Sure enough, steel behemoth number two lumbered out of the darkness, eyes aglow and gun at the ready.

The metal-headed monstrosity leapt back to its feet with an unexpected agility, shouting some pointless nonsense.

“Shut up!” Clownpiece yelled, cutting it off mid-sentence.

“Silence, child!” Zedd barked back, twisting in place and whipping his own torch at her. The lunatic fairy met this action with her own, sweeping hers in an arc just as he turned. Purple brilliance spilled over the demon’s visor, and the bolt struck true. Electrical agony suffused Clownpiece’s body as she was knocked back, wind driven from her lungs both from the blast, and from crashing into the dirt. She sucked in a painful breath, hoping the trade was worth it, and jumped back to her feet.

A bright blue beam of energy slammed right into Zedd, and just like that the madness went into full swing. The already short-tempered wall of muscle let loose another tirade as it stampeded off to fight the second metallic monster up close, where it had the advantage. Clownpiece took to the sky again, a toothy grin on her face as she took a quick peek back towards Tamsin. The maid was back to her feet once more, and she had an all too familiar lunatic glint in her eyes. The lampad’s already bright grin grew even more radiant, and she stuck her tongue out, floating backwards and keeping herself directly between the knife-wielding woman and the clashing titans. A metal blade flashed out, and Clownpiece hurled herself to the side, the knife sailing harmlessly past her and burying itself in Zedd’s shoulder. A mad giggle rose up from the fairy of hell as all three turned on each other.

795 words.
Clownpiece used Hellfire and Lampad's Torch (Debuff + Whack)
Tamsin used Fangs of Gelidus
Zedd used Volt
Isaac used 211-V Plasma Cutter
Both Zedd and Tamsin are under the effects of the torch. Poor Tamsin, hit by it twice.

[Corporal Light]

Zedd whirled around, purple pixie dust glittering around his head. Roaring to the heavens, he charged at the maid in a blind, animalistic fury, leaving the engineer behind.
 
With the combatants occupied, Clarke lumbered towards the large, dark side entrance as fast as his RIG would allow him to. Sweat poured down his face; he panted with the hoarseness of a chainsmoker; his panic-stricken eyes blinded him to the world as he fled.

Just as he passed through the darkness, he felt a shot of fiery, hot pain surge between his shoulder blade. He bit his tongue to stop his screams as he turned around to face his assailant.

Suzaku dashed at him, a maddened grin on her face and sharp, steel crescents in her hands. Isaac lifted his Plasma Cutter, aiming at the maid. Her smile faded as three blue dots materialized from her forehead down to her chin.

A bolt of flesh-melting plasma zoomed out from Clarke’s gun. Tamsin rolled to the side, the shot hitting air. She lunged forward, a psychotic glint in her eyes.

Before she could get far, though, Zedd intervened. He reamed her in the stomach with the side of his Z-Staff, stopping her in her tracks. She keeled over, grasping her belly before the skinless monstrosity whacked her in the head and sent her tumbling away.

He couldn’t help but laugh at his success. He raised his metallic rod and admired the fresh blood that stained it. Absorbed in his victory, he did not notice the glowing, ocean-blue dots lining his waist.

Isaac squeezed the trigger. Zedd yelped in shock and pain as he dropped to the dust and blood-covered floor of the arena.

The engineer looked down at the back of his gun and stared at the ammo counter. A small “0” laid plastered on the orange hologram.

The muscle-made man got up, one hand clutching his waist and the other clenched around his silver Z-Staff. Nostrils flared, electricity sparking from the end of his melee weapon, he darted towards the space engineer, shouting expletives the whole way.

Isaac popped out the spent cartridge with all the speed and desperation of a frightened rabbit; his hand scrambled for a spare. He slipped a charge in with trembling fingers just as Zedd closed the distance.

Zedd’s staff careened into his helmet, leaving a Z-shaped dent. He stumbled back, static filling his vision. His heart pumping with adrenaline, he ducked underneath the next swing. He clenched his fist and countered with a jab to his opponent’s jaw. Zedd flew back, landing in the dirt.

Clarke trudged toward the downed, groaning, cursing egomaniac. Once he was right on top of him, he lifted a single mud and dust-coated boot over his opponent’s chest.

The skinless man rolled out of the way of the engineer’s foot just as it plummeted down. The floor quaked; the impact left a small crater, tiny cracks arcing out from the sides. Dust kicked up into the atmosphere, enveloping the two fighters in a cloud.

He continued his assault, each stomp more forceful and inaccurate than the last. He was relentless; his mind surrendered to the fight response. He hyperventilated; his entire body felt like it had waded through molasses. The only thing keeping him standing was the knowledge that, if he gave up, he would lose the competition. The beginning of a new life, lost. What few things he had left to live for, removed.

His foot slammed into the ground, missing Zedd’s head by almost an inch. He realized too late that he had used his bad leg, but that didn’t stop the waves of pain from shooting up and into his stomach. He grit his teeth to bite back the shrieks; he couldn’t afford weakness now.

“ENOUGH OF THIS!” Zedd shouted.

He struck Isaac’s bad leg with his Z-Staff, forcing Clarke onto his knees. He pushed himself onto his feet and brandished his weapon for all to see. The bottom of his staff had been filed down to a shiny point. He grasped one of Isaac’s hands and held it back as he raised his staff, the bottom end aimed for his head.

To the Omniverse, they saw a combatant triumphant.

To Isaac, he saw a monster.

A monster of mangled flesh and organs reanimated as a killing machine. The Ishimura rocked as he held back the bloodied, bone blade of the Necromorph holding him down. He could smell the death and decay. It roared in his face. He could see it smile. There was something cruel inside. Only something cruel could kill Nicole.

Anger replaced pain. He pulled out the blade from the Necromorph, tossing it away. He pounced on the monster. Metal met flesh. He pounded at the thing’s head. Nicole flashed before his eyes.

799 Words!

Plot Summary:
Zedd, in his lunacy state, runs off to go fight Tamsin in retaliation for the knife-throwing incident. Isaac tries to flee to avoid the brawl.
Tamsin, also under lunacy, tosses a Fang of Gelidus into Isaac's back just before he can escape. Turning back, he tries to hit her with a bolt from his Plasma Cutter. She dodges, but gets knocked away by Zedd's Z-Staff.
Zedd, in his infinite glory, decides to start gloating about his victory, giving Isaac ample time to nail him with a plasma bolt to the waist. This comes at the cost of his remaining ammo, though.
Zedd charges at Isaac as he reloads his gun. Melee ensues.
Zedd eventually gets Isaac onto his knees and tries to stab him in the head with his staff. Isaac ends up hallucinating, seeing himself back at the Ishimura and that Zedd is a Necromorph. Enraged, he overpowers Zedd, throws his staff to the side, and is currently beating the shit out of him.
Clownpiece is probably somewhere in the stands watching this whole thing or something.

Note: I plan on having Isaac remain in this sort of hallucinatory state for the remainder of the match. He sees himself inside the Ishimura, a derelict, dark mining ship, and fighting three necromorphs that are dependant on the fighter (For example, Tamsin could be a Stalker or a Twitcher in his eyes, as she is ground-based and is fast.)

[Lord Zedd]

Lord Zedd was about as angry as one could possibly be without any sort of artificial enhancement of his mood. Then it was artificially enhanced.

His blind fury had only ended up with him pinned to the ground, and the armored one pounding away at his face with blow after blow. Zedd had become fed up with this low budget, scrapyard Power Ranger that had managed one too many shots on him over the course of this ordeal.


Another fist sailed downwards, aimed for his metallic visor. Zedd caught it with both hands and maneuvered Isaac’s arm across his body. The positioning gave Zedd all the leverage he needed to throw the steel encased warrior off of him. Isaac hit the ground, still confused by the spell, but Zedd was feeling better, at last. The dark lord stood up and reclaimed his staff.

While Isaac was climbing up to his knees, still plagued by visions of his past realm, Zedd approached his hallucinating foe. Before the engineer could rise any further, Zedd swung his foot harshly across Isaac’s face. Isaac’s head was jarred about inside his helmet, and he collapsed backwards. Zedd wasn’t so naive to this land’s workings to think that he’d actually killed the armored prime, but he knew he’d gained some valuable seconds.

He turned to face Tamsin, and began to lumber towards her. The maid was ready for another round with the hulking tank of metal and muscle, but she wasn’t quite prepared for what happened next.

A cone of fire descended on Lord Zedd from above, engulfing him completely. Tamsin stepped back, feeling the heat from where she was standing, then looked up to see that Clownpiece had rejoined the fray from above. The fires died out, and Zedd emerged from his sudden immolation charred and with new focus. He pointed his staff upwards and fired a bolt of electricity at the flying fairy, but Clownpiece swiftly dodged.


Zedd roared in anger as he briefly tracked her, but then shifted his focus to Isaac. The sentient steel box was coming at him, likely to try his luck with those absurd boots again. Zedd was ready, and grabbed the man by the shoulders when he approached. He allowed the engineer no time to react, and threw him towards Tamsin.

With nothing more than a hope that those two would be distracted by each other, Zedd unleashed another lightning bolt. Clownpiece continued to be ready for him, and she evaded with deft agility. Zedd fired two more attacks, but they only struck the invisible roof of their arena.

“Come down from there, little birdy,” Zedd sarcastically beckoned. “So that I might rend the flesh from your bones.”

Clownpiece giggled at Zedd’s masked frustration, and once more flew around the arena. This time Zedd anticipated her trajectory, and with the proper lead on his magical attack he was able to blast her right out of the air.

The fairy collided with the dirt floor, but sprang back to her feet instantaneously. She didn’t approach Zedd head on, and instead bolted towards the other two combatants. Zedd sighrf in frustration, realizing what the all too quick trickster was doing. What neither expected was Isaac to notice her approaching, and to redirect his attention towards her.

Zedd put one heavy foot in front of the other as he sprinted into the chaos ensuing melee. With Isaac wildly trying to attack Clownpiece, Tamsin had taken a moment to rest. That would be her undoing, if Zedd had a say in it. He wasn’t quick or quiet, though, so the maid noticed him approaching at the last second.

Tamsin ducked low as Zedd swung his staff towards her neck, and the menacing warlord only struck empty air. Tamsin rose, slashing across Zedd’s stomach with one of her crescent knives. The attack didn’t phase him, and he tried to bring his staff back around for another attempt. Once more, Tamsin was too quick for him, and she somersaulted away from Zedd.

Zedd shifted his stance so he was facing Tamsin, now that she had put a little distance between them. With no hesitation he raised his staff and blasted her with a surge of lightning, throttling her backwards from the impact. With the maid momentarily out of the way, he spun towards the rest of the battle, as he was sure the other two troublesome fools were likely up to something.

Instead, Clownpiece and Isaac were in the middle of their own duel. Zedd should have taken the moment to rest. But, their continued existence remained an affront to his sanity, so he fired more lightning bolts at the duo without hesitation. He would rest when they were all dead.

800 words exactly, by the site.

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face

Gildarts vs Dante

With a whoosh, the Colosseum was separated in two by a barrier wall.

Word Limit: 800
Posts Per Player: 2
Time Limit: 20 hours
Random Elements: On

Post order is Gildarts -- Dante

Your time starts... now!

[Tamsin Suzaku]

Tamsin slowly stumbled back onto her feet, her knees nearly caving from the physical anguish. Her blue and white outfit had become nearly indistinguishable as such, having become thoroughly caked in grime and blood. As her muscles ached from the bruisings and piercings, her lungs hungrily drew breath — the girl had been electrocuted so many times that she could no longer distinguish whether she was actually inhaling air.

Straightening herself out, Tamsin used the rare respite offered to her by the three-way ranged exchange to reorient herself. Her nerves were burning and throbbing painfully, her mind still recuperating from the bouts of frenzy and bloodlust — emotions she had never felt with such intensity and vigour. Parsing through the chaotic mess that were her scrambled thoughts, Suzaku quickly discovered the source of their madness — the violet light emitted by the fairy's torch. She could distinctly recall that it was the light overwhelming her senses that began to trigger her irritation and murderous intent.

No sooner had she come upon this discovery did the space lord manage to strike the arumoured engineer with another bolt, buying the hellish fay creature precious moments. Sluggishly attempting to lift herself to a higher position — the fatigue making it difficult for her to continue maintaining even a low altitude — Clownpiece readied another charge of her craze-inducing powers.

The maid was determined not to let the fairy's machinations come to pass again. Defying the protests of her pained limbs, the silver-haired girl pushed herself into another sprint. As the tin man attempted to rise again, she leaped onto him, her soles slamming into his now thoroughly charred armour. The engineer flailed around him in a fit of panic — his mind trapped in the decaying ship he had left behind long ago — vainly attempting to dislodge her. But the servant's speedy and precise steps ascended his back rapidly, using his helmeted head as a springboard for another jump, this time towards the infernal jester. A dagger glinting in her hand, Tamsin threw the blade at her target. In her rush, she only managed to scratch the fairy, but the small injury was enough to throw off her concentration and botch the spell.

Before Clownpiece could recover, she felt the embrace of the maid's gentle hands on her neck once more, struggling with all her might to remain mid-air. But before the servant could further capitalise on the opportunity, she felt something impact her backside and her movement became more sluggish. A sense of dread settling in the pit of her stomach, the servant decided to release her grasp rather than chance whatever followed next. The hellish fay pulled herself out of her grasp and hovered higher, but wound up crying out in pain as traces of plasma subsequently punched through and stained the Star-Spangled Banner.

Plummeting towards the sandy ground, Tamsin discovered herself reacting normally once again. Noticing the skinless warrior beneath her, approaching his armoured foe, she purposefully directed her momentum towards the red alien. Readying her crescent blades, she raised them above her head and slammed them into his exposed back, the steel sinking into his unusual flesh. The already infuriated caster roared in pain, his visor emitting a deep crimson. With a frenzy and speed rarely displayed, the space lord reached for the person occupying his backside and violently threw the girl onto the nearby ground.

Her back arching from the pain, the servant was unable to roll away in time before she felt the warrior's foot strike at her knee, nearly breaking her leg in two. As she cried out in agony, her foe responded with a satisfied laugh before suffering another hit from the engineer's plasma cutter.

Using the chance to drag herself away from the malevolent alien, the servant found herself once more attempting to stand up, this time barely even feeling one of her legs. Somewhere in her mind, Tamsin pondered how long she could keep up with this. But she knew that the only chance she had to survive was to press on — in this chaos, it was all she could do to keep up.

696 words according to the site.

[Gildarts]

The twisting rush of teleportation flooded his veins, time cascaded as though it were fluid filling a glass. THUNK! echoed the crash magic user’s chainsaw falling upon the barren ground. Lines of aged-formed perplexion burrowed into his expression as bright light burned his irises, perpetuating his stoic squint. Before him stood a man layered in squeaky leather and poised to fight. Surrounding them, high walls and stairs, much like a cage of bone-colored architecture.
 
There was a stillness before the storm of war, Dante was waiting for the man to pick up his only weapon. Fair was fair. To him, it seemed this would be easy, the Son of Sparta had a complete arsenal, this man, a single… Distinctly bloody chainsaw, equally, there was already aged blood splattered across the mage’s ribboned chest.
 
“You’re not the one we were fighting,” Gildarts observed with an appraising utterance.
 
“I am now,” Redgrave spoke his promise. “That chainsaw isn’t gonna get you very far with me.”
 
The mage offered a favorable smile as he eyed the white haired man, “We’ll see.”
 
Just as Dante might clutch the throttle on his motorcycle, Gildarts quickly dragged at her startercord, revving up the chugging blasts in his ears. The chainsaw’s engine gushed and the mage launched himself forward with amazing speed. Smooth momentum closed the space between them, Dante all but fumbled as he fell backward, his stomach curving concavely in order to miss the vicious slice that would’ve been taken out of him.
 
Gildarts had gotten the jump on Dante, so why didn’t he feel the agonized ripping of his intestines?
 
Slowly, like the ticking of a clock, the motions unfurled. Instead of slicing his gut, the chainsaw rumbled as it fell to the ground in the now inches between them. The half-demon’s eyes bulged as silver teeth sunk into the toes of his left boot, falling with a shredding carnivorous bite. Meanwhile, the mage had freed his hand, dropped his decoy and slammed a nasty fist right where the chainsaw failed to land. The impact of pain shattered through Dante’s foot and continued to climb into a stifled yelp at the crash of Gildarts’ knuckles, instinctively the demon hunter grasped his side and tried to control his boggled expression.
 
What was that? It had seemed…Raw and demonic… Whatever, it won’t happen again.
 
My turn.
 
In a single swooping glint, steel-struck-iron. Both men had impeccable reflexes, Dante had barely moved his shoulders before he’d brought Rebellion crashing down on his enemy’s blocking steel arm. Sparks flew from the collision and quickly Dante took a limping step back as the wizard’s strength had swayed the sword.
 
His pale eyes reevaluated the muscular man, Now, what else do you have up your silver sleeve? Dante thought with a grin. A glimpse confirmed his opponent too, was enjoying the challenge.
 
“You better give up old man,” the crimson-coated Dante warned as his palm clutched sand from the wall he’d been cornered against and with a swish! the handful grated in his opponent’s eyes, two could play the decoy game.
 
Gildarts grimaced, his eyes stung with chunks of wretched salt and sand. With a spliiitting! rip Dante’s sleeves tore leather and released his sharpened Gilgamesh gauntlets. As mercilessly as he would a demon, Dante slung the sharpened side, slicing straight down into his brawny opponent’s skull. A lush splash of blood dribbled at his toes, Gildarts felt the heat of confounding pain tear as crimson slime oozed over his eye. From the gash in his temple, hot drool trickled down in a stream past his cheek.
 
Concussed, woozy, and with his eyelid soaked in blood, his palm torpidly clutched the side of his bleeding head, puffing with effort, he stood unyielding to the thunderous pain. The auburn-haired mage seethed, coiling his lips down. slurring, “You can’t tthink I’d go down tthat easily? An' you’re the one witth white hair.”
 
Gildarts let a wrathful surge of magic, offering his muscles temporary solace from the vividly wrenching torment. Dante wanted to watch his proximity to the opponent that kept him guessing, he opted next for his pair of pistols, putting him at a range from the warmage’s consummate brutality.
 
The hand-cannons flicked a simple trigger, Gildarts had been staring down the duel snouts from several feet away, anticipating the scent of gunpowder the mage dug his heels into the cracking dirt.
 
The savagery embedded in the crash wielder’s essence churned, about to be released.
 
The ground beneath Dante began to crumble. Sculpted rock shattered into a rain of stone. Cubes were flung into the air, Dante gracefully dodged his way through some of the rocks, but he’d lost his perfect aim on Gildarts...
 
Until the blur of gray steel in the corner of his eye became a curtain of glistening white.
 
 

 
 
[spoiler]

800 Words.

 
Gildarts is going to use 2SP to heal with Adv regeneration (this happens about mid-fight)! He’s also improvised his chainsaw because frankly I thought it would be kinda cool and stuff.
 
Gil also started out suppressing his powers because he was pulled from dark and ominous woods and they were sneaking.(Stealth/suppression)
 
Next he used burst movement in conjunction with his chainsaw launch. (he also kinda jumped with the launch too and did a horizontal glide)
 
The chainsaw fell on Dante’s left foot, mainly slicing off what I kind of pictured the less important part of Dante’s toes.
 
This was a decoy, as Gildarts wanted him to focus on attempting to block or dodge the menacing saw as he hit you with a punch instead. (WHY not slush his lungs with the chainsaw? Because I just don’t see Gildarts mutilating people via disembowelment, plus Gildarts is keen enough to know his enemy wouldn’t know that after not knowing him.) Gildarts likes to see what his enemies can bring to the table.
 
Dante summoned his Rebellion sword but Gildarts more or less tossed it aside, plus Dante didn’t want to test the proximity of him and the unpredictable beefy fighter.
 
Dante splashed sand in Gil’s eyes and revealed he too had a metal sleeve. Gilgamesh style. One slice down the Mage’s temple nearly tore out Gildarts’ eye. (It also caught the side of his head too so he has a gash there now). Healing then happened!
 
Seeking to evaluate the full extent of his powers Dante uses Ivory and Ebony, two pistols.
 
Dissasemble-Crash! This move makes the stone of the Colosseum cubed and ruptured. It created fragments in the air to distract you from shooting at him. Gildarts is a little more heavy now. I didn’t extend this to the entire stadium, but Dante was close to a wall so it hit some of the wall, bleachers, and the ground below him and turned it into little sliced up cubes. About the size of a smaller bedroom (he can't do this move again this round)*
 
IT IS NOW DUSTY.
 
Gil used this to punch Dante in the eye again with Crushing (Magic) punch! (Which is white)
 
SN to dante: Gildarts has fought in a similar colosseum before in the OV’s Camelot. & Gil isn’t much of a talker but I did do a little conversation for sport. The chainsaw is currently buried in rubble. I will likely come for her though <3
 
Had to leave off there because wordcount. Dante’s character is AWESOME and versatile with his moves against Gil. I’m having fun! Also my next post might break some more rocks and stuff because it would be cool to outline some matrix shiz with Dante’s character.
 
USED SP for healing: 2.
 
Current / remaining SP: 9/11

[/spoiler]

[Clownpiece]

The acrid scent of burnt flesh, her own flesh, stung Clownpiece’s nose. Her right side burned like the fires of hell, and she cradled the long wound with her free hand. There was no blood for her to hold in; the plasma had simply seared its mark into her, but it felt like it was helping, and that was all she needed. Her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths, the deepest she could manage with the sheer agony suffusing her body. Yet in spite of the searing pain over her kidney and the dull ache of her ribs, a manic grin slowly spread across her face. A grin which slowly morphed into a toothy smile, and then a childish giggle.

This was just like home. Hell. She took in a deep breath, side and chest splitting with agony and dusty air scratching at her throat, but she pressed on until her lungs were full. Darkness danced around the edges of her vision, and she released the breath in one go. A second wind filled her body with fiery energy, and she dove back down towards the fray, eyes darting across the battlefield. From her vantage point up high, she could see Tamsin off to the right struggling to stand, down but not out. Nearly directly below was Zedd, grappling with his armored opponent, and winning it seemed. The hell fairy’s mouth turned up in a cruel smirk.

The metal monstrosity wailed ineffectually on his opponent’s back as Zedd lifted him over his head, letting out a triumphant shout and shakily preparing to slam him into the sand. Red, white, and blue blurred together as Clownpiece suddenly hit the ground immediately in front of the meaty behemoth, falling to one knee as she did. Painful shocks rattled through her legs, but she kept the smug grin plastered to her face. Her left arm flashed out before Zedd could react, infernal heat welling up in her palm. A muffled yell of some sort escaped the monster as its visor was bathed in a gout of fire. His already unstable stance faltered, metal clanged against metal as the two collapsed to the ground, and the fairy’s cruel giggle washed over the both of them.

With a roar of pure rage, Zedd rolled Isaac off of him and clambered to his feet, his Z-staff whipping out towards the hellspawn. A bolt of electrical brilliance shot out and subsequently slammed into the ground, kicking up a harmless cloud of dust.

“Missed me~” Clownpiece sang from off to his left, balancing delicately on her right foot, torch held high above her head. The skinless monster twisted on his feet, furiously throwing another bolt at her. She dodged to the right again, bolt once again sailing past. Her eyes darted back down to the armored man on the ground, who was lifting his weapon up, bearings finally regained.

“Man your aim is bad~” The trickster spirit mocked, stopping on a dime and floating barely off to Zedd’s side. The engineer’s plasma cutter flashed up, three horizontal dots lining up to cover both of his opponents. With another childish giggle, Clownpiece ducked behind the conqueror just before the weapon released its payload, and the blue bolt only seared Zedd. With another righteous roar, the monster seemingly ignored the hit, spinning on his feet to face the fairy, arm extended out to the side.

CRACK

White exploded into Clownpiece’s vision as the behemoth’s haymaker slammed into her temple, and the blonde child was thrown right out of the air. She crashed into the ground a few meters away, sand and chips of stone digging into her skin and tearing at her dress, and she rolled to a halt, ears ringing and vision spinning. More white bloomed in her vision not a moment later, as one of Zedd’s bolt struck true, slamming into her ribs and filling her with electrical agony.

Once again, the infernal fae’s breath came in short, ragged gasps, her burst of adrenaline all but gone. She turned her head back towards the now three-way scuffle. Everyone was back up, but attrition was getting to them. Movements that were once on point were now sluggish. Clownpiece placed her hands under her chest, and slowly pushed back up to her feet. The purple radiance of her torch grew more intense. She took in another deep breath, suppressing the agony all over her body, and crossed the torch-bearing arm across her side.

“HEY!” She let loose the loudest scream she could possibly manage, the world dimming in her vision. Everyone turned to face her on complete instinct, and even though they all knew what was coming, that knee-jerk reaction was all she needed. A magenta arc cut across her body and high into the air.
 

797 Words
T1 Super Utility: Driven Mad used on everyone (0/2 SP remaining)
[spoiler]Short version: For the next 30 seconds, those who don’t block it will disregard their own safety, and may even accidentally harm themselves.[/spoiler]

[Simon]

With an expression of panic lining his face, Dante rapidly crossed both arms in front of him, hoping to absorb the damage with Royal Guard. The sheer power behind the strongest Prime's punch completely broke through, and devil hunter felt his face crushed underneath his own gauntlets for a scant moment. Then the attack followed through, and sent him flying through the bleachers.

As the dust settled, Dante could only lay in the cubed rubble, shocked and overwhelmed with pain all over. He willed his body to move, and screams of pain shot up his spine, nerves grinding their split ends together. The portion of the bleachers shading over Dante's resting place began to crack and sink, the support beam having been smashed from the impact of his body. Adrenaline soaked into the half-devil's muscles, and he attempted to stop the coming danger.

Gildarts saw the portion of the stone Colosseum collapse onto his opponent, almost feeling bad for ending it so soon. The warrior's worries were discard, however, when the chunk of seating suddenly began to rise up, and then charged at him!

With every ounce of his inhuman strength, the Son of Sparda pushed the slab of stone into Gildarts. The fairy-tale wizard stopped the attack with his own might, but couldn't muster the magic to break it. Dante reared back with his lame arm, charging Gilgamesh's blazing motors, and slammed it back into the rock with maximum power. The fragment of the Colosseum shattered like an archaic grenade, Gildarts buckling under the force and tumbling back among a shower of broken stones.

Dante took initiative, retrieving his sword and leaping into the air. Shaking his head to brush off the dust, the strongest Prime retaliated, heaving out two of the large rocks with bulging arms. It took minimum effort for Rebellion's blade to break through the obstacles, but it proved enough of a distraction for the wizard to roll away.

A falling cut of the sword struck the ground where Gildarts has just previously been, and Dante snapped his head up just in time to see a silver fist soaring his way. The hunter jerked away from the blow, parrying it with his right hand and countering with his left. The wizard caught the faltering arm before it could land, ensnaring and twisting the weak point in suppression. In a moment of desperation, the Son of Sparda thrust his skull forward, bashing Gildarts' nose with his forehead. The two fighters stepped away from each other, reeling with pain and resetting their stances.

Gildarts spared a heavy breath to comment, "You're pretty strong, considering your grey hairs."

Dante snorted, flecks of blood spattering from his ruined nose. "Can't be much older than yourself."

"At least my youth shows," the wizard retorted, flaring his magic aura with a surge of power.

Dante was still feeling the effects of that ultra-powerful crushing punch, his movements like labor and breaths like an iron lung. He couldn't even lean on his left foot, the reinforced toe of his boot being a tattered bloody mess. But Gildarts seemed similarly encumbered, albeit not due to pain. It was as if the wizard were hoisting one of those broken boulders on his back, and it prevented him from moving quickly.

Damn sorcerers and their chainsaws.

The devil hunter picked up Rebellion, sheathed it behind his back- then suddenly lunged at his opponent with a flying cross punch. Gildarts judged the attack instantly, catching the incoming gauntlet with his silver hand. A pulse of white energy distorted the demon steel, and the glove dissolved into useless pieces. Dante recoiled away in shock, a faint netting pattern outlined on his hand.

"Sorry," Gildarts apologized, "I hope that wasn't valuable to you." Even Dante could tell the man wasn't completely genuine in his statement. But at least he had a proper judgement of power.

The Son of Sparda backpedaled away from another wide punch, putting distance between the two of them. He back-flipped onto a pointed chunk of stone, drew Terminator, and from his vantage point opened fire. Gildarts did not back down, already casting a webbing of energy into the air. Just as the cloud of buckshot would've hit, the net materialized into a shield, cutting the pellets into lead gravel.

Neither warrior relented, Dante blindly blasting away with his boomstick and Gildarts dashing forward with his barrier. The wizard's metallic arm shielded his face from the second burst of crumbled buckshot, but when the third salvo hit, the shield gave way. The pellets punched into his exposed flesh, but he heard the click of the loading lever close by, and lashed out with his right arm. The fist only broke rock.

When Gildarts glanced up, he only saw a heel-mounted buzzaw coming right for his head.

800 words exact, according to Wordcounter.net
[spoiler]

• Dante tried to use Royal Guard against Crushing Punch. Gildarts' superior STR broke through entirely.
  
• Dante was half-crushed by part of the Colosseum, but he picked it up with his inhuman strength and shoved it into Gildarts.
  
• Gildarts held the rock at bay, but was blown back by the charged Gilgamesh punch, which broke the rock onto him.
  
• Dante tried to attack from above, but Gildarts threw broken stones as a diversion and Dante deflected them with Rebellion.
  
• Gil and Dante had a brief struggle of punches, then fell back and judged each other.
  
• Gildarts destroyed the right gauntlet of Gilgamesh. It is gone for the rest of the event, until Dante can summon another outside of DA.
  
• Dante fell back and used Terminator three times on Gildarts, who protected against most of it with Disperse.
  
• Dante jumps up and is attempting to perform a heel kick with the Gilgamesh greaves.
  

[/spoiler]

[Gildarts]

Lightning struck him in the form of terror, true realization overtook the Ace’s senses faster than the daunting swoop of the scythe hitched to Redgrave’s heel. The crackle of energy charged in his hand but was jarred by the boiling pain of mutilation as the slash embedded upon its mark. Agonizing milliseconds passed and the steamrolling burst of magic crippled Dante as he was hurtled across the arena, tossing the whiplashed demon hunter out of sight like a scrap of litter.

Following the slick withdraw of the blade was a fountain of blood gushing out of the wizard’s skin, the pain was that of a sledgehammer carving Gildarts’ steely flesh, skinning him alive with pain that made him wish for the end. “Ugh, I’m getting ttoo old for tthis,” he hacked out a globule of blood as he forced his strength up against the mountain of collapsing gravity on his shoulders.

Dante’s porcelain skin had been cracked like a vase with gore trickling in a stream parting just above his eyebrow. It dribbled past his neck and onto the metallic rim of the demon killer’s restraining electric collar. A scream echoed from beyond the barrier that both proudly standing gladiators had barely given a glimpse to, now Gil was reminded he wasn’t the only one corralled into battle.

“Listten, kid, iff you give up now, I don’tt have tto hurtt ya,” Gildarts dizzily offered as he straightened his hobbled back. Crick! One of the disks clicked back into place. “I hatte going easy.”

“Kid? Easy? Ha, yeah right,” the thirty-ish year old quickly calibrated his next move with the swiftness of his experienced hands, “You’re basically half-dead anyway.”

Kids. These. Days.

A gushing bolt of magic torched invisibly across dirt and slammed into the Nephilim from above, inches before he could evenly mount some bazooka-type gizmo on his forearm. Gildarts had always been against spanking, but this guy was now tasting the dirt he deserved.

The unrelenting devil slayer struggled against the demanding weight of transparent gravity as his veins bulged out of his skin. While he couldn’t quite will himself to stand, Redgrave did have the willpower to concentrate on the enemy that so casually strut toward him, granting him an opportunity.

With one hell of a kick to Dante’s shoulder, beams of sizzling amethyst frizzled forth in an onslaught of lasers, each shrapnel spying the crash mage as their target. Like meteorites, they streaked across the air as wisps of their tails dissipated and they continued to bound forward. Their unsuspecting target trudged on, across his torso was his hollow gauntlet for an arm, the scalding beams sliced into his skin transforming wrinkled burns into thick-pinched scars.

Torment scalded his right thigh, another jeweled beam burned through the bone of his shoulder causing shockwaves of pain to quake through his being, Gildarts toppled over like a crumbling skyscraper and in the crunch of grating his teeth bits of the bone chipped off.

Remember why you fight. The noble mage shook himself free of the torment. There was the power, the triumph over anguish, and then there was the cliché sprightly faces of everyone his magic had ever saved.

The warmage drove on, each speck skimming his skin and filling his pain meter hairs from the brim of overflowing. It was time for this fight to be over. There was no justice in taking his beating any longer. The Ace’s pace stopped as he looked down at his wriggling foe, the unquenchable thirst for fight was still in the devil hunter’s eyes and the mage had the option of stopping everything then and there, but one thing was known for sure, Gildarts had never been known for his peace.

Immediately his shoulders squared naturally as argent light surrounded his united hands, then a bold emblem woven of divine light appeared in front of the auburn-haired master, expanding nearly as tall as he was.

“Itt is a custtom of my guild thatt I offer you tthe chance tto surrender unttil I reach the countt of tthree,” Gildarts stated gravely, his tongue scraping on the sharpened parts of his teeth.

“One.”

“Tch. What, you expect me to grovel to the likes of you and your stutter? Never going to happen,” the gravity binding his opponent was released.

“Two. Even in the face of defeat, will you not surrender? You will lose more than this battle...” Gildarts persuaded, hunting for hope.

Dante stood on his feet against the raging white power of the shielding radius of the spell being targeted at him, “Try me,” and with a readied smile the Son of Sparta declared, “I live for the fight.”

“Three.”

A wave of immeasurable cataclysmic magic combusted with godly howls of thunder and filled the stadium with a glittering blizzard of white.


[spoiler]

800 words on the dot!
Wall was used to deflect the oncoming attack but the side of Gil’s organic bicep got pretty sliced up about an inch deep (like the part where you see people get tattoos, directly THERE) with the Gilga heel/leg blades. The blade sunk in and immediately lurched back out.
Gildarts stretched his back and used Advanced Regen for 1 SP.
Dante is pinned with Gil’s Atlas move and invaluable dramatic tension builds.
Demon slayer uses this opportunity to aim Nightmare-β at Gil (laser version, birdshot style)
Shrapnel of lasers from the above move hit G in the shoulder, thigh, and one hit his silver arm. There were various other mentions of sizzling of burns.

For the finale, Gildarts used T3 Super move: Fairy Law (3 SP)
(also I tried to frame it like dante was going to counter)

Used SP this round: 4

SP remaining 5/11

[/spoiler]

[Corporal Light]

As the purple pollen seeped into the cracks of his bloodied, ashened, vomit-covered armor, he couldn’t help but stare.

The hull of the Ishimura creaked as it rocked back and forth, floating derelict through the void. Sterile, yellow lights flickered above him, reflecting off of the pools of blood on the metallic floor. It revealed messages scrawled on the walls, symbols of a language ancient and indecipherable. Steam and mist drifted through the air as they shot up from pipes and clawed up ventilation shafts. The ship reeked of decayed, acrid flesh, the smell infesting his nostrils and plaguing his lungs as he breathed in the rot and filth. He heard chattering, inhuman growling and wailing; it pierced his mind, digging into his head like a worm. Yet one voice rose above the others and drove him to action: her voice. Even as the things that took her away from him closed in, her voice pushed him forward.

“Isaac.” Nicole said before the sound dissipated from memory.

His limbs throbbing, his stomach churning, and his head consumed by dizzying, despairing insanity, he charged at the first monster he saw that appeared within the darkness of the room.

A massive, muscled Necromorph turned out to be the one. Two enormous blades jutted out from its shoulder blades, a large cut shaped in a Z chipped along the surface. It lumbered underneath its skinless bulk, its muscles and organs morphed together in a charred heap of meat and bones.

It turned as he ran at him, yellow eyes illuminating the inside of its bashed skull. It roared a deep, throaty roar and sprinted towards him. To his left, he heard the shriek of another monster; a thinner Necromorph, one with a beak made out of the open, laughing maw of its flayed skull and a torn, slashed up maid costume on its body, had noticed the fight and was joining in with a war cry and charge of its own. Up above him, wings made out of skin and cellulite flapping with the wind, something laughed a high-pitched, alien laugh. He was outnumbered, with only his fists to fight them off.

It really was just like the Ishimura. He giggled to himself.

He collided with the bulky Necromorph. Isaac’s head rattled inside his helmet as he fell to the ground. The twin-bladed corpse rose from the ground only to be knocked back down by the squawking maid. It tore into the downed opponent, elongated talons ripping through the flesh of itself and of the enemy it attempted to kill.

Clarke pushed himself up, the one goal he had drowning the pain racking his body. He lunged onto the back of the bird-beaked Necromorph. They toppled to the floor, rolling around before stopping with Isaac on top of the costumed creature.

The beaked corpse reacted first, talons digging into his armor and cutting into his skin. His fists scraped against the protruding, hardened, teeth-filled beak; his fists pounded into the squishy mass of meat below him. The thing’s claws ripped apart his chest, but it was a dull throb more than anything else. It screamed underneath him.

He heard a deep, magnificent roar behind him. It was enough to make the ground shake.

A wave of agony shot up his spine as he was tossed into the air. Metal clanked against metal as he careened into the ground. Rolling onto his back, he looked up. The yellow-eyed Necromorph towered over the battered, beaked monster, staring down at it as if considering what to do.

Gritting his teeth to bite back the pain swarming his body, he moved onto his stomach. He pointed his arm at the beast, tapping away at the band attached to his hand. A blue, baseball-sized, transparent sphere of energy materialized around his arm. He squinted one eye, aiming the ball at the muscled monster.

The bulked-up Necromorph pressed its foot against the beaked beast’s chest. It raised one of its blades.

Clarke fired the sphere.

It splashed into the yellow-eyed corpse’s body. Its flesh turned a dark shade of blue. Its movement slowed to a crawl.

The thinner Necromorph glanced at him for nary a moment before it pushed off its opponent’s foot and dashed off.

Clarke reached into his knapsack and pulled out a stick of dynamite. The field surrounding the body of the bulky necromorph flickered.

He grabbed the wick between two fingers. He flicked them up. The blackened strand ignited into sparkles.

With all the energy he could muster, he threw the explosive at the yellow-eyed corpse just as the stasis field dissipated. It landed right next to its feet.

Isaac swore he saw the thing’s eyes widen as the black powder inside the stick exploded into smoke, fire, and crimson shrapnel.

800 Words

Summary!

- Everyone has been affected by the Super Move, so everyone's gone nuts!
- Isaac takes a moment to stare into the environment of the Ishimura.
- Isaac charges at the Twin-Bladed Necromorph (Zedd) while a Beaked Necromorph (Tamsin) does the same. A Laughing Necromorph (Clownpiece) laughs from above.
- Isaac and Zedd collide into each other, with Tamsin knocking Zedd into teh ground. The Super Move causes her to mindlessly flail her crescent blades into Zedd while he's down, hurting both him and herself in the process.
- Isaac leaps onto Tamsin and rolls her onto her back and tries to beat the crap out of her. In return, he gets slashed up by Tamsin's crescent blades.
- Zedd gets back up and tosses Isaac to the side. He prepares to kill Tamsin.
- Isaac uses his stasis module to slow Zedd down. Tamsin runs off.
- Isaac tosses a stick of dynamite at Zedd, which explodes underneath him.

I HATH USED AN ITEM OF DYNAMITE!

Great show! I hope we can write again sometime!

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face

Lord Zedd vs Tamsin Suzaku vs Clownpiece vs Isaac Clarke

The stick of dynamite had brought a quick end to the nightmares and foul visions.  

For the moment, Lord Zedd found himself twisted up in a heap on the ground—his eyes seeing stars and his fingers and toes numb from the proximity of the blast.

Tamsin, her breathing hoarse and ragged as she tried to regain her senses, turned just in time to absorb a blast of hellfire that threw her to her back and ushered her into a calm darkness.  The maid out of the equation, the fairy turned and readied to strike down Isaac, who somehow managed to evade the gush of fire.  The tormented man, freed from Clownpiece’s trickery, was still plagued by his own demons.  He got his hands around the tiny girl’s neck and drove her face-first into the floor of the Colosseum.  That first strike wasn’t enough, so he repeated it six more times until her face was a crimson mass.

Hoisting the limp fairy up over his head, Isaac squeezed, hoping to crush the neck and vertebra of the creature that plagued him.

Instead, a bolt of lightning slammed into the back of his helmeted skull.  The engineer’s grip melted away as fell to the ground and trembled for a few moments before falling silent.

Ten yards back, an irate and partially smoldering Zedd lowered his staff and savored every moment of his triumph over that collection of rabble.  

[spoiler]
Lord Zedd is victorious.  He receives a fresh can of Diet Nuka-Pepsi!

Lord Zedd takes 6 points of Accumulated Damage
Lord Zedd’s Ego heals 323 Damage
Clownpiece takes 6 points of Accumulated Damage (Includes Minor Injury – Blurred vision [Clownpiece] and Minor Injury – Fractured face bones)
Tamsin takes 5 points of Accumulated Damage
Isaac takes 6 points of Accumulated Damage (Includes Serious Injury – Brain damage; Isaac will have increased difficulty discerning between reality and not reality.  MONSTERS ALL AROUND YOU, PICKLE MAN.  NICOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLEEEEEEE)

All of you are sent to Safehouse C.  There are no cooldowns. Zedd gets all your stuff.  Have a good day.[/spoiler]

[Simon]

Alabaster energy bombarded the stadium, subjecting thousands upon thousands of viewers to a blinding holy glare. The shining spell revealed Dante for what he truly was: the spawn of a devil, the carrier of a dark knight's legend. The transformation paled in comparison to the divine judgement, demanding all the devil's might and ability just to not be wiped clean from this world.

Finally, the intense light petered away into nothing, leaving only Gildarts standing in the wake of his destructive spell. The magician opened his eyes, and beheld the battlefield swept clean and bare by his titanic effort. He couldn't help but sigh with exertion, arms dropping to his sides in exhaustion. Gildarts's breath came heavy and harsh, rasping and panting with terrible effort...

Wait- that wasn't his breath!

The wizard turned too late, a fist of demonic steel crashing into the side of his head. Gildarts was thrown away with a cry of pain, tumbling and rolling over the scorched earth. When he finally came to a stop, the left side of vision was blurred, blood trickling into his eye and nearly blinding it. The re-opened wound on his temple burned, dust rubbed agonizingly into the breach. Gildarts nearly ground his teeth into pieces, stopping when the fresh taste of copper was squeezed from his gums and into his mouth.

Dante didn't feel sorry for the man. The battle-mage had pushed him to this state, and the Son of Sparda was nothing if he did not push back. The devil stood still for a moment, willing his carapace to fuse his wounds shut and his blood to knot the injuries. Once he reversed all the damage he could manage, he would resume the attack.

Gildarts did not wait. He did not even question why and how this monstrosity was still alive. The wizard forced himself to stagger to his feet, fighting through the wooziness that invaded his senses. Magical energies surged through his arms, ready and desperate to put an end to his battle. "Wh-why d' you keep f-fighting, huh-?" Gildarts demanded, choking on his tone and stumbling over the words. Dante might've laughed- maybe if he were not currently so consumed by raw power.

Instead, his only response was to level Nightmare at the spellcaster, an abundance of demonic magic flowing through the weapon. Gildarts seethed with determination, raising his right hand as if to karate chop a board.

Both attacks launched at nearly the same time- a harrowing volley of dark-fueled lasers, versus a transparent wave of magic that churned up the ground into cubed pieces. The two fighters broke away running, each trying to avoid the other's attack. Only one of the violet bolts missed their mark, the other four flinging the mage painfully out of range. The expanding diameter of the destructive wave blindsided the devil as he was about to clear himself from range.

While the sting of the lasers made Gildarts falter, Dante just pushed through his own pain. Even as the netting pattern on his right hand expanded and deepened into harsh cuts, he just dismissed the bio-weapon and gripped his claws around Rebellion. Even as he charged forward and found his flying stab deflected violently, the devil just rolled right back onto his feet and charged again.

Knight and wizard continued to clash, every heaving breath from Dante's lungs announcing a new swipe of his sword. It was all Gildarts could do to deflect the blows, the blade leaving cuts wherever it met his arms. The mage backpedaled to avoid the sixth slash, holding his new stance firmly and rippling the air with waves of power. As Dante blindly rushed ahead, Gildarts unleashed a huge pulse of the intangible force, bombarding the demon's senses and throwing him off balance. The overhead swing went wide as the redcoat tripped over his own feet, giving his opponent an opportunity to fall back.

Dante growled, removing his face from the ground and spitting out dirt. His sword had fallen out of his hands and out of reach, but that didn't matter. The only thing that kept the devil moving, instead of lying in a heap clutching his head, was sheer demonic grit. His attempt to push himself back up failed, Dante's face mashing back into the ground- which turned out to be just the thing to dispel the dizziness.

The Son of Sparda threw himself upright, fury reclaiming his eyes from nausea. The mage was standing in front of one of the few barriers not yet crumbled, charging another powerful spell- but not for long. Dante reached out for his link to Kalina Ann, his trump card, and willed the rocket launcher into his waiting hands.

The devil grinned, almost swearing he could see Gildarts go wide-eyed as he pulled the trigger.

799 words, according to Wordcounter.net
[spoiler]

• Dante spends 1 SP to use Devil Trigger (T1 Power-Up) to avoid and weather the damage from Fairy Law as best as he can. He maintains it for the rest of the post.
  
• After the attack is finished, Dante uses 2 SP to recover health with Advanced Regeneration, augmented by Devil Trigger. This leaves him with 0/5 SP remaining after the battle.
  
• Dante cuffs Gildarts in the head, re-opening the wound Gil healed earlier. He's starting to go blind on that side.
  
• Dante charges another Nightmare-β attack (5-laser homing) while Gil charges a Crash.
  
• Dante tanks through Crash and charges forward with Stinger. Gil uses Parry repeatedly against the slashes with Rebellion.
  
• Gildarts uses Fear to overwhelm Dante's senses, and then runs off to charge Mizuwari. Dante bashes his head into the ground to cure it.
  
• Dante brings out Kalina Ann and fires it, most likely disrupting Gil's charging in the process.
  

[/spoiler]
I don't have much confidence for getting out of this intact, and I'm honestly kind of wiped out just writing this. But here's to hoping we both at least put up a good fight.