13 vs Hellscythe

[13-Jzall]

13 saw his quarry, the felind who was determined to constantly deny him his prize of the scythe she constantly held. It didn’t appear like she had seen him yet but she was constantly looking around, at the very least she knew he was here. And sending weak homing projectiles into the darkness but 13 was able to dodge them easily enough. He knew his area around this hive city and could melt away into the shadows only to appear again somewhere else. She was tiring and 13 wasn’t, it wouldn’t be long until she would have to sleep and he could easily kill her in her sleep. At last it appeared that she would stop to sleep when she turned around “I, I don’t know if you’re there or who you are but can’t we just solve this peacefully?” 13 decided that it was time to move in. Drawing his hood over his head he walked forwards with his pistol out and aimed it at her head as the light washed over him, 13 began speaking in a monotone that could only mean that had said this 1000 times before. “You are accused of leaving the emperors light, resisting arrest as a psyker and being a mutant and defying me. Hand me your staff and your sentence might be lowered from execution to being sacrificed to the Omnissiah, a justified change if there ever was one.” He took out and set up his sniper rifle, aiming it at her head. Ebony was worried, not knowing if diplomacy was the way over fighting but she had to try at the very least.

271 words

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

Intro post (so not included in the post cap).

Why can't these people just leave me alone? It's my scythe, my magic. I never hurt anyone. Ebony frowned to herself as she turned yet another corner in the streets, occasionally stopping to fire harmless blasts of air behind her as a deterrent to her unseen pursuer. It was too dark to properly see, but she could hear his footsteps chasing after her.

But then, Ebony wasn't trained by any means. She could run at a fair speed for her build, but like all humans, she had to rest. Her magic gave her strength and resilience, but not agility or skill. In short, she was tired of running - both physically and mentally. Whoever this guy was, he wasn't about to give up. He'd been following for hours and tracking her for days.

Pivoting off her foot, she turned around with a jolt, planting the black ebony wood her scythe into the ground defensively, and speaking her plea into the darkness. It was a futile demand. All this person seemed to know about was death. Even his best offer for her had it as a prerequisite. It didn't exactly make her want to surrender. But nor did she wish to fight back, although given the circumstances it seemed to be the only option.

"My scythe is mine. Get your own. You p-probably don't even know how to use it... y-you oversized children's toy!" Ebony screamed back, indignantly.

#destroyed #burn

236 words. Shortish for me but I didn't have a lot else to write that was non-fighty.

The fight starts... now!

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Word Limit: 800 
Posts Per Player: 3 
Time Limit: 72 hours 
Random Elements: On 
Damage Meter: On 

[13-Jzall]

13 waited no time to start the battle, he saw that Ebony was hesitating and shot 3 bullets at Ebony. The first hit her square in the chest, the second grazed her shoulder and by the third shot, the recoil was so great that it missed her completely. The impact threw her to the ground and the scythe was left on the ground. 13 dashed towards the scythe and tested its weight, to his surprise Ebony started running away. 13 used this time to reload his sniper rifle and aim his pistol, he saw Ebony speaking to herself but he didn’t know what was happening. What he noticed, however, was that the scythe in his hand had disappeared and appeared by Ebony’s side. 13 walked forward with his pistol aimed at her head. “You had your chance to turn yourself in and save countless billions of people, if you’re just going to do that it looks like you’d rather die. If the golden throne fails Terra and Mars will fall to deamons, it will be your fault for not accepting your place in life.” Ebony suddenly swept her hands and a gust of wind sent 13 flying towards a piece of heavy machinery. 13 stood up, he now knew that he was dealing with a powerful psyker and couldn’t take any chances. He stopped focusing on combat and instead started sneaking around the factory. Ebony didn’t know this area as well as he did, he could find his way while she would stumble around. 13 found a route that would lead him behind Ebony and went on his way. Ebony started sending homing spells in a giant circle, a few almost hit but the workers were being hit as well so it didn’t mean much. 13 walked up behind Ebony and prepared to execute her when she spun around, knocking the gun out of his hand and next to a worker. 13 dashed over but Ebony was fast enough to graze his lead cloak, not causing massive amounts of damage but cutting up his robes. Ebony followed quickly and almost as soon 13 picked up his pistol she swiped and a few of the pipes on his chest were cut. She attempted twirl the scythe immediately back but she couldn’t pick up enough speed and 13 was able to glance it off of his arm, only cutting out an area of his robe and scratching his arm. 13 jumped away and started darting between the factories and workers, hoping that his robes would help him blend in with the other martian workers.

Ebony uses air+homing a few times and gets a few hits off with her scythe. 13 Hits her with 2 of his rifle bullets. 432 words, can 13 use civs as meatshields?

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Ebony screeched, cutting off her spell incantation. Firing now would risk harming the innocent bystanders, and that couldn't be allowed. Following up, she waved her scythe through the air causing a harmless spray of dark purple flames to arc in front of her. It had the desired effect of causing most of the people in her way to move to the side, giving her a clearer shot towards her attacker. "Sorry," she mumbled, grimacing. Although under her hood her expression and words were left hidden to all but herself.

Still holding back her magic, she spoke again, directing her voice slightly upwards and into the air, straight towards the psychotic assassin. "Whatever your strange delusions are, I want no part of it. Leave me alone."

He turned around swiftly, having made enough room for himself to shoot Ebony from a safer range. The bullets had hurt her before, but her magical body had reduced them to no more than painful bruises and slight burns. Her breathing was laboured, but that was the worst of her ailments. Regardless of Ebony's condition, her foe began to open his mouth. To say something with what she considered to be a stupid and dangerous conviction. Ebony wasn't one to hate people or hold judges, but he had literally just accused her of being responsible for billions of deaths she knew nothing about, only to guide her spells into civilians. It was a good thing she'd used air magic before.

Before the robed gunner could speak, however, Ebony silently flicked her wrist, sending a purple blast of magic straight towards him. There was no incantation, no signalling, and no indication before the shot. Ebony herself barely thought about it, acting on instinct rather than a conscious choice. Naturally, the target barely had any time to dodge, attempting to twist sideways to avoid the impact. 

Slam.

It punched into his shoulder, hard, sending him spinning and singeing his clothing. Only due to his extensive training and physical conditioning was he able to stay standing, despite making a full circle with the rotation. Before even recovering, he fired a shot in Ebony's rough direction. But even with her standing still it missed, the bullet going far astray and burying itself in the skull of a nearby worker.

Had Ebony not been paralysed in the aftershock of her spell she would have screamed. Instead, when it wore off she collapsed, coughing. The weakness in her legs saved her somewhat, as the second she fell more bullets arced over her head. Whoever this person was, he didn't care about collateral. In her mind, he was an evil menace and needed to be stopped. Whereas before she only wished to live in peace, now she wanted to stop the aggressor once and for all, whatever that entailed. She wasn't really sure how to stop someone permanently like that. Maybe I can arrest him or make him my captive... or something.

Rolling to the side, she picked herself up, using a pillar as cover. She winced as one of the shots grazed her shin, drawing a small amount of blood. Breathing in, she readied her scythe, screaming various magical phrases. In truth, she wasn't actually channelling magic, but her opponent didn't know that. She couldn't see it, but he recoiled, again situating himself within another crowd of people as cover from a spell she hadn't even cast. Some had fled, but the general populace was left in a panic. While many wanted to flee, they didn't know which direction was actually safe.

Using the moment of relief to her full extent, Ebony ran in, trying to close the gap. She was just as fast as he was, even with her large scythe trailing dark flames in the air behind her. Her target's cannon fodder scattered, serving to also, regrettably, shield her from his vision as she approached. Adrenaline pumped through Ebony's body, bypassing her fears and doubts and forcing her body into action as she began her assault.

674 words.

Ebony hit 13 with Preemptive Blast (Magic version - Basically the same as a basic Elemental Blast but with 5 seconds of paralysis afterwards instead of a 5 second charge time).
13 grazed Ebony's leg and shot a civilian.
Ebony is now up in 13's face with her scythe. Most of the civilians are starting to scatter away. Is there law enforcement? If so they might be coming in at some point. If they're familiar with you they might join your side, idk.

[13-Jzall]

13 was pushed up against the wall with Ebony near him, slicing wildly. 13 managed to shoot her once but the other bullets missed completely missed when Ebony swung at his wrist, hitting the gun out of his hand. Not wanting a repeat of what just happened, 13 ran behind a different container, took out his sniper rifle and shot three times as quickly as possible. None of them hit but the machinery next to Ebony exploding did a good job of keeping her low. One of the civilians ran and hit a red button, suddenly alarms started blaring and both fighters took cover, Ebony making spells and 13 reloading his sniper rifle. Suddenly a squad of guardsmen from the local PDF appeared and aimed their guns at Ebony. “Stand down or face the emperor’s justice!” Ebony stood still and 13 strolled over to his pistol and picked it up. Suddenly Ebony moved her hands and the soldiers starting shaking as electricity coursed through their bodies. Ebony, clearly not expecting something so bad to happen, stood completely still as the PDF soldiers fired at her. The lasguns didn’t do much to Ebony but she quickly regained her wits and started dashing after 13, Ebony made it to 13 faster than he thought she would. He didn’t want to have to his metal bullet yet but if he didn’t want to die it would be a necessary sacrifice. 13 fired 3 bullets, one of the bullets hit her arm and the other two hit the ground in front of Ebony to scare her and slow her down. It worked and brought him the precious seconds needed to uncork the vial and pour in the special metal liquid, he aimed it at her neck and pulled the trigger.

296 words, ebony uses charged+electicity+homing and knocks out/kills most of the PDF, 13 uses his T1 super attack which I can't remember the name of but I only have one so meh. The PDF is firing at Ebony with lasguns which are extremely weak and are made to boil your insides. 13 and Ebony are a few meters away but the liquid metal bullet may have pushed her back quite far.

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

Time seemed to slow as the bullet cut through the air, stabbing its way through the dusty smoke. Ebony's expression of panic was frozen on her face, unable to react in time as the bullet headed towards her neck. Luckily for her, in situations like these, her magic tended to have a mind of its own. Dark purple fire exploded out from her, halting the bullet in its path and pushing debris away in an attempt to protect its outlet. Without Ebony, the magic was nothing. While it lacked any apparent sapience, it was still sentient to an extent. Enough to know when to protect its caster, at least.

The bullet fell to the floor, and if the majority of ears weren't left ringing from the surprisingly harmless blast, the slight clang would have clearly been audible in the silence that followed.

Her aggressor grunted while she yelped, just as surprised as he was. She'd done that before, but it didn't stop the surprise. Grabbing her scythe tightly, Ebony reluctantly reached back, and swung as hard as she could while running forwards towards her opponent. She didn't want to fight, but with the whole city now after her, and with the man's destructive aggression, she had little choice. 

The hard wood of the staff connected with the man's cloaked head, the blade trailing flames behind, but not meeting him. Ebony felt guilty about finding the loud echoing smack so satisfying, but had little time to consider the moral implications in the chaos the followed. Smoke and fire spread from the burning machinery, slowly filling the rooms as shots from the local rained down on her from the local military. Individually, they didn't hurt much, but Ebony could feel the bruises beginning to cover her arms and legs. "Leave me alone!"

Red eyes glared through the smoke at the offenders who had little time to react before a large clump of broken metal and mechanics was flung their way, a slight purple aura surrounding it temporarily. Whether it killed, harmed, or simply disabled the targets was left unknown as gears and rubble flew into the air. Regardless, they were out of the fight, for now, leaving just Ebony and the Assassin for now.

While the mage had been distracted with the weak weaponry, the man had managed to manoeuvre himself behind yet another column, reclaiming his pistol. He fired shots towards her in the smoky air, but with only a vague silhouette to aim at he only succeeded in tearing her cloak.

With her mind heavily influenced by adrenaline and magic, Ebony acted swiftly, yet irresponsibly. Cracks had formed along one of the other supports from prior attacks and their misses. The material was weakened, it took no effort for her mind to grab it, bending the matter to her will and ripping it from its standing place. Focusing her power, she flung it towards the bullets, waving her sore arm for emphasis. Mind and muscles burning, she was barely aware of the loud crash - she was much more focused on trying to stay conscious at this point.

Although she was subconsciously aware of the havoc about to be caused by the ever weakening structural integrity, she outwardly showed no concern. He had to be stopped, and if that meant burying him along with this forsaken city, then so be it. The impact of magic demanded only release, no room for finer emotions. Some mages had trained their minds to avoid such a thing, but Ebony. She had to such tutoring.

After suppressing her ability for so long, it felt almost good to release it upon her surroundings. A clump of rock fell from the ceiling, landing at her feet. Picking it up, she smiled, the corners of her mouth curling sadistically. "This... this is your justice!"

636 words.

Ebony blocks 13's super attack with her T1 Super Defense.

Ebony took out 1, perhaps 2, of the key supports, so half the area is going to start caving in. She's on the safer side, 13 isn't, although he probably has time to get himself out of harms way.

Most, if not all, of the solder people are now incapacitated or stuck under rubble.

There aren't any civilians about, unless they're stuck under rubble.

Add in some other dudes on your side if you want (and that would happen), just as long as they're weak and more fodder. Our characters are like demi-gods here compared to everyone else (otherwise if you had an army supporting you you'd obv's win).

Only 1 round to go. 

[13-Jzall]

13 didn’t want the city to collapse on top of him. There was one last chance at diplomacy and he could maybe play into the fact that she was losing sanity and control over her emotions by the moment. “You obviously have no idea what’s going on. It seems that you don’t want to kill people but you just broke a section of a hive city which will kill a couple of million people.”
“JUST…. JUST SHUT UP! YOU KILLED THOSE PEOPLE AND THIS CITY’S DEATH ARE ON YOU AS WELL!”
The now crumbling arena was becoming a death trap thanks to Ebony’s spell. 13 was tempted to just evacuate and subject the planet to an exterminates but no, the strategic importance of it was too much for the imperium to sacrifice for now. Suddenly, 13 remembered the empty ice planet next to this one, it had the proper structure on it but had been taken over by orks a while back…… it could work given enough time. 13 turned on his radio and messaged the nearest inquisitor; “Evacuate the upper hive and beyond of Algol, screen every citizen as soon as possible and wait. If I die see what you can do to remove the threat. If I live remove the imperial population and virus bomb the area, see if you can get rid of any more hereteks” 13, still surrounded by the crumbling area, simply walked towards the elevator to the level under the one that they were on now. Ebony saw where 13 went and ran after him, only being hit by a few crumbling pieces of masonry from the ‘roof’ of the hive level. 13 went down the elevator and as soon as he went down called for military support, suddenly as if they were waiting for the order, member of the death korps of krieg appeared and aimed their guns at the elevator that Ebony would be coming down, bayonets ready. 13 walked out of the hive city, into the desert and awaited Ebony. Without any terrain to mess with, she would be at a disadvantage. 13 reloaded his weapons and aimed his sniper rifle at the slowly opening elevator.

361 words. We are now outside the hive city on some plains. The korps guardsmen are suicide troops who patricipate in glorius melee combat more and they are right outside of the elevator, mostly just more cannon fodder but somehow more manly?

[Ebonywood Hellscythe]

Rock slammed into the ground behind Ebony, reminding her she needed to leave. Another piece fell, and it would have hit her had she not caught it with her magic. The roaring of fire, cracking of rock, and hissing of smoke made it hard to hear anything. Her attacker had fled through the elevators, no doubt laying an ambush for when she was forced to leave. The sooner she followed, the less prepared they'd be and the less disadvantaged she'd be with her defence. 

Yet she lingered, pushing away the fire, smoke and rubble with her magic, waiting for a moment. Consciously, she didn't have a reason. This was a choice based on raw instinct.

She'd been chased, and then attacked by a maniac. One who didn't hesitate to harm civilians in his pursuit of her, and then had the nerve to blame her for it, claiming she'd cause billions of deaths if she didn't have over her scythe. Something that was literally impossible for her to do. It was hers, and it was bound to her magic.

Machinery had exploded and set aflame, all due to the assassin's attacks. Her breaking one, perhaps two, of the columns wouldn't have been enough to dislodge more than a section of the roof. This was on him. He'd pushed her into a corner and she'd had no choice other than to lash out.

Then why did she feel so... empty?

Unthinking, Ebony staggered towards the elevator, tossing her scythe to the side and letting it disintegrate, she held her arms to her chest, aiming to soothe her wounds. It had little effect. Each breath still made it feel like someone was stabbing white-hot daggers into her rib cage. Nonetheless, she persevered. Forcing herself to chant the spell as the mechanism worked, lowering her to the ground, doors slowly opening. Spotting her target, as she peeked through the gaps, she shuffled, hiding behind the doors for as long as she could - just long enough to finish the spell.

Thrusting her arms forwards, she screamed - yelling over the destruction and trying to fire her attack into the heart of the troops.

"Explosion!"

Her aim was not true. The fiery orb flew into the air, appearing to head above the composition of soldiers in front of her. But that didn't matter. In fact, it helped somewhat. This attack wasn't one that would simply miss.

It curved through the air, now angled downwards towards her original aggressor. He threw himself to the side, trying to dodge. Due to its trajectory, there was no way for him to use his men as meat shields, and no obstacles, there was nothing for him to hide behind.

The movement was, inevitably, useless. The spell slammed into his chest, exploding with magic fire and catching a proportion of his guard with the blast. Many fell down, most permanently, not expecting a blast from behind. Her opponent himself seemed heavily damaged by the blow, yet forced himself to his feet. He was on his last legs, but then again, so was she.

An offensive had been fired against her the moment the doors had opened fully, and the moment she'd cast the spell. Even with the aid of her telekinesis to fling sand into the air, hiding her from vision, she'd still been hit by the first volley.

She spat blood out of her mouth, wiping it off her face with the back of her glove - smearing it over the motif. Growling, Ebony floundered forwards, again holding her chest, leaning more on her right leg than the left. It hurt.

Through the wisps of false fire and storm of sand, she made it, closing in on the leader - yet surrounded by his remaining men. All had their weapons tamed on her body. 

"Surrender now, and you shall have a merciful death. A sacrifice to the Omnissiah."

Again the fanatic spoke. And again his words did nothing but confuse Ebony.

Frowning, in one final motion Ebony ripped the leather off her neck, tearing through the material and bracing against the shots. The buckle silently fell to the ground as her magic began to take hold of her body once more - elements rocketing out of her palm and sand swirling around her, grinding against her foe's bodies.

Her body shook, shaking from both her spell and the pain of attacks, as she fell to her knees. Yet still, she had the nerve to grimace, forcing out all her remaining mana into one final strike.

751 words.

Eb used Fire + Explosive + probs a bunch of charges + Homing on 13.
Eb got shot a bunch.
Eb uses her T1 Super Attack while 13 and his remaining fodder shoot her (before probs getting shot a bunch by her magic).
2/2 SP used for Eb.

Aaand now we just need the result.