Ranus saw the oncoming blow, choosing to transition his force choke into a force push that should send Redacted slamming into a tree; If this works Redacted should be dazed for just long enough he couldn't block the next attack the Sith attempted, not a moment later the devastating jab found its mark. The Sith's left side buckled from the force of the blow as he fell into the murky water, dropping his lightsaber and letting out a brief yelp of pain.
The particular spot he had fallen upon wasn't that deep, most of his body still above the water as he rolled out of the way of the stomp; the Sith then countered with a torrent of force lightning that should send the man in armor flying upward and damage him severely.
Edited by KrampusTheTherapist on Aug 26th 2020 at 2:11:31 AM
Redacted did hit the tree, the force of it should’ve shattered his bones. Although as he was flying through the air, he morphed his entire body into solid steel. The impact hurt, he was a bit dazed from the force of hitting the tree, but he wasn’t dead.
He took a moment to shake the stars from his eyes. He clapped his hands together, forming them into a massive blade. He dashed at the Sith, going for a killing blow, although still a fair bit slow on the pounce, still trying to recover from his impact fully
"Just a humble peasant looking for work~"For a few minutes, there wasn't really any talking. Everyone just trying to think of what to say but not simply being able to voice it. Finally, someone did speak,"I think Miles might be right..."
They all turned to the normally meek and timid Corona who scuffed her shoes on the floor nervously,"I mean...just because we think a certain way of doing things is wrong don't mean it's wrong to everyone else. Maybe Yharim does see what he's doing as right...but we all read what was on that tablet. He's not mentally well."
"Corona's right," Shyna jumped off her chair,"It's like with the situation that created the Silhouette and Mirage races. Too much instability caused the apocalypse so we gotta ask...do we really want to trust one person with absolute power over everyone else's lives?"
"Miles..." Corona took his hand in both of hers,"I get that you have second thoughts about facing Yharim and maybe he has done some good for Terraria...but be honest, where do you think his obsession with power will eventually lead him?"
"I..." The human's lip quivered as his mind pondered scenarios,"...He'll eventually end up like the leaders who came before him. Obsessed with ruling over everyone and everything, all while convincing himself he's the good guy...when really the stage doesn't belong to just him."
"Exactly," Corona nodded, seeing the light come back in his eyes,"He's already showing signs of it. He's stomping down on his own people's rights and using force to keep them in line. What happens if he decides to just straight-up brainwash them into being good people?"
"Not gonna happen," Miles shot up out of his chair,"People need to be able to think and act for themselves! If they aren't able to do that, then what are they except for flesh and blood dolls?"
"And he's back," Nebula shook her head with a smile as she took his other hand,"So, what's the plan, fearless leader?"
"Please don't call me that," Miles said with a groan as he glanced around,"First, we get these cuffs off, then we get the hell out of here. At the very least, our friends in the Arena need to be warned of what's coming."
"Good plan," Shyna high-fived him,"Now, let's see if there's anything around that can help us."
With that, the group, Miles included, all split up and scoured the apartment from top to bottom, looking for tools or implements they could use to try and get these cuffs off.
The Sith Lord's lightsaber begins to shake in the water, the dark lord's anger giving him focus and power. He called on the force, thrusting himself into the air with a flip, His trajectory would put him just above the blade; The Sith's saber shot from the murky water, right into his hands. The Sith ignited the blood red blade and with a swift swing, the Sith attempted a decapitation.
"You are truly pitiful, to think you ever had a chance was pure delirium."
Edited by KrampusTheTherapist on Aug 26th 2020 at 2:34:04 AM
Ricardo's Diner
The figure notes Syana's unusually quick thought process, but brushed it off - she's not the first he's seen capable of stuff like that. "Indeed I am." He replies to her, before glancing back to their mode of transportation. Curious design.
"Oh, I don't think I've actually introduced myself properly." The figure's helmet folds back, revealing a brown-skinned man with distinctly orc-like tusks and pointed ears who seems to be approaching middle age, though given the colorful characters that pass through the Arena that appearance could very well be misleading. "You can call me Dexion, Dex for short. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
The main suspect, in terms of getting them off, were the kitchen knives, although that'd be a dangerous game to play - knives and blood vessels wasn't exactly a welcome combination, and with the way the cuffs fit over their wrists, they wouldn't have much choice.
There was also Zero's little workshop area. The repair station there might provide some way to remove them - although with the amount of technological know-how displayed throughout the castle, it'd be unlikely that they could just go up and ask it or whatever.
Or maybe they could just get creative? They had the brainpower of four people and a big robot thingy around, surely they might be able to come up with something.
Finally, maybe they could just wait it out? It'd be a game of luck, but they did have friends on the outside - it was possible that a rescue was being mounted.
Redacted’s Mind was moving faster than his body ever could, even when his fusion was clouded and it was hard to focus on the physical. But his decision came fast. He expanded his body at such an extreme speed that it would make a shockwave around him, hopefully knocking the lightsaber off target just enough so that it wouldn’t take his head off. After that, he just braved for the impact of the glowing blade.
"Just a humble peasant looking for work~"The Courier begins to get back up, but yo that bitch lightning hurts, he's probably not getting back on his feet for another round of it!
Though if left alone, he pulls a severed human leg out of his... pouch? And he eat it mid-fight, somehow healing himself faster.
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitter"Well, simply put, Imagination is an essential component of our reality - it's the origin of matter, you might say! And as a force that powerful, it has a wide variety of applications. For instance..."
He holds out a hand, and a turret materializes in front of him.
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.""Welp, we got a workshop, a bunch of fully-stocked cabinets, and a few other things to use," Miles summarized as he looked around,"What you guys feel like trying first?"
"I will take the workshop," Zero announced as he headed towards said workshop,"I've watched enough repairs done on me to have some idea what to do. Hmm...this blow torch migh-ack! Agh! Hmm...maybe I'm holding it the wrong way...ahh!"
The gang winced as they heard him continuing to pick at himself with workshop tools in an effort to break his restraint,"Yeah...I'm sure that'll work out for him but none of us here are as durable as he is." Nebula pointed out.
"Then soap it is!" Miles pulled out a bar of soap and lathered up everyone's hands with a lot of it before turning on the sink and trying to use a mix of the two to try and slide the cuffs off.
The shockwave was not enough to completely throw his blade off course, slicing through a massive chunk of the excess flesh that Redacted had created; the blood immediately vaporized by his lightsaber and turned into a thin cloud of crimson mist. As the Sith was thrown backward he landed on his feet, skidding across the murky water creating a small wave that echoed outward. Ranus let out a short-lived scream of pure frustration,
"What an annoying little insect you are, you continue to insist on fighting when it is hopeless for you."
The Sith unleashes a singular stream of what appeared to be force lightning, but it looked nothing like the electrical energy. It was more erratic in shape, taking a darker orange hue in color with the slightest black outline. The sound it made as it flew toward Redacted was assaultive to one's ears, comparable to scratching one's fingernails against a chalkboard. If it were to connect it would drain the very life force of one's being and transmit it to Ranus.
"Squirm, pest."
Ranus turned his attention very briefly to the cannibalistic man in power armor, disgusted.
What a savage.
The Sith thought to himself, turning his gaze again to his current target.
Skyborn Altar
Filia arrived at her destination, looking around the battlefield Boyero had fought upon. It was strange to look at the land and see none of the scars that battle had left, for they had faded long ago. Why did her father insist on putting her away? Her gaze eventually landed on the Nightbringer's blade, still encased in her father's never melting frost. She walked to it, resting her hand on the block of ice the demon had been trapped in.
Redacted
He screamed out in pain at the touch of the lightsaber, his body shrinking back to its normal proportions. And then he jumped back, a hand clutching his neck as he winced.
And then when the next attack started coming his way, he knew he was probably doomed. He put his hands out in front of him, turning the very air in front of him dense. Hopefully stopping the attack dead in its tracks.
____________
Skyborn Altar
As soon as Filia laid her hand on the blade, in the back of her head, she would hear a furious screaming. Coming from nowhere in particular around her. Something that didn't sound like it belonged to anything in the Arena. And despite the blade being covered in ice and frost. There was a hidden anger burning underneath it all.
"Just a humble peasant looking for work~"Soap was indeed a valiant effort, but the cuffs were pretty much form fitting, and quite wide - they could hardly even move them around to get the soap under them, let alone get them past their hands. However, the bit of added movement on them might just help with any other attempts.
Zero's attempts were... Marginally less successful, if anything. The loose tools that were lying around could barely even scratch his actual chassis, let alone the restraining bolt. Only thing that seemed to be able to do the trick was the automated repair station, if anything - but even that was a stretch, since he couldn't control what it was doing.
As their efforts went down, they might realize that the sun was setting - in fact, it had just about finished dipping over the horizon, and the last of its light was starting to leave. The full moon stood high in the sky, though, piercing the slight cloud cover with its glow.
"Fascinating..."
For good measure, Draedon replicated the trick, spraying a cloud of purple liquid metal from a dispenser on his wrist that coagulated into the shape and materials of an auto-turret.
"While a feat such as that is replicable with my knowledge, it is a quite different process, and not nearly as sophisticated. This Imagination, I suppose, is what facilitated your initial transformation? If so, it is indeed quite versatile."
As he spoke, he pulled up a holographic screen with one of his hands and started taking notes.
"Indeed," says Overbuild cheerily. "Your method relies on the use of tools and manipulating the reality that is already there. With Imagination, however, I can simply will something to exist, and with enough focus and an idea of what it is I intend to create..."
He reaches out again and a bunch of LEGO Technic pieces materialize and come together to form a Mini-Mecha suit. "It's that easy. Feel free to try that out, if you can even fit it on!" he says with a chuckle.
Edited by KiriK on Aug 26th 2020 at 4:27:00 AM
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."Having recovered his energy, Courier Six snarls and attempts to jump, in spite of his weight, to try to slam into the Sith Lord before he can kill Redacted!
If this works, he then attempts to pound his face into hamburger. If not, then he trashes about, get back up and attempts to punch him!
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitter"Well, we can move them around more but otherwise the soap is a no go," Miles sighed as he called out to his robot buddy,"Yo Zero! How goes it on your end?"
"Poorly!" He called back,"As much I hate to admit it, Draedon spared no expense when it came to these cuffs..."
"We best pick up the pace," Nebula gestured to the scenery outside,"We got no idea when either Yharim or one of his followers comes to check on us and if he sees what we're doing..."
"If worse comes to worse, we'll steal one of the guard's weapons and shoot the cuffs off," Miles said, but at seeing the girls wincing, he put up his hands,"But we'll save that as a last resort. Now, let's see what else we got to try..."
Miles tried turning on the stove top and seeing if it would cause the metal in the cuffs to expand. As that happened, the sisters and Shyna looked around to see if there was any liquid nitrogen they could use, or some sort of acid.
As all that went on, Zero decided to take a gamble with the repair station,"Might as well see if I can get this to work..." He proceeded to start messing with it.
Ranus's attack is interrupted by the Courier's mad jump into him. The Sith Lord leaps away from his savage attacker, throwing his lightsaber toward Redacted in an attempt to slice into his knees and disable his movement. Regardless of the saber's success, it would fly backward toward Ranus. The Sith landed and found a fist headed directly for his face, to which he reacts by parrying the blow with both of his fists; countering with an attempted flying knee to his chin.
"Your anger is admirable but without focus, it makes you an uncontrolled and imprecise animal; I will put you down like the feral beast you are."
The screaming didn't bother her in the slightest, in fact in some way it reminded her of her now desolate homeland; It brought memories of home, her reminiscing memories interrupted by the presence of the demon within the ice. Her hand created a deep crimson flame, slowly melting the ice.
Miles' stovetop idea was surprisingly well though out - after all, hot metal expands, and enough would allow the cuffs to slide right off. However, the with kind of temperature he'd have to reach to allow that, he'd also be burning his own skin - not a great look for trying to escape handcuffs. Even so, the bit of heat that he could pull off would be enough to allow a little further movement - and between that and the soap, getting the cuffs off was starting to look a lot more doable.
Liquid nitrogen was definitely a no-go, but acid was more doable. Household cleaning products, vinegar and lemons, hell, even spare batteries. Of course, most of them wouldn't do much to the metal cuffs, but maybe one of them was strong enough...?
The automated repair station flared to life as Zero approached, brandishing several welders and lasers as a ring of lights flared up on the floor. Seemed like it was fully automated - simply stepping into the circle would have it up and running. Presumably wouldn't remove the restraining bolt, but the tools certainly looked up to the task.
"I think I will pass up the offer, for now..."
Draedon gave the mech a quick look-over before turning back to Overbuild.
"This is a fascinating power. Since it functions here, I can only assume that it is not inherent to your world, but can be harnessed on an individual level."
He noted down a few more things, then shut off the screen.
"Doctor, I believe that the two of us, working in tandem, would be able to accomplish great things together. This power of spontaneous creation is something I would quite like to study further, and in return, I have access to nigh-limitless resources for you to further your own projects. The way I see it, a partnership of this sort would be a great boon to the both of us."
Redacted
"Shi-"
He jumped over the flying blade, almost avoiding it entirely. But the damn thing clipped his left foot, sending him spiraling into the water. Half of his foot was gone, so he just resorted to melding into the murky water for now, letting the small skirmish between the two play out.
______________________________________
In the Blade
The dawn was blinding, he had lost his battle versus order. Krampus had locked him inside of his own realm, he could not bring Chaos to his dimension as he had hoped before; he had been locked in here, never to return to where he came from, Order had won, Chaos had never nurtured the way he wanted it too.
But then... He felt it, a break in the ice that had caged him. His anger consumed him, and it manifested in the physical realm as a dry heat pouring out of the small break in the ice. When that break was large enough, he erupted out of it. The Nightbringer had returned to the Arena once more.
Skyborn Alter - Nightbringer
He was on his knee, a fiery fist pushed into the ground. He took a breath, a ragged inhale of air. And when he exhaled, his head tilted up. Looking around... He saw Filia first, his eyes locking with hers, his sword vanishing from under her hand and reappearing on his hip.
"Where is he?"
"Just a humble peasant looking for work~"The Courier take the blow and spit some blood, as the "jaw" part of the mask is blown apart. Nonetheless, he only has to say a defiant "FUCK YOU", and attempts to grab the Sith Lord by the shoulders before trying to headbutt Ranus hard with the helmet!
Edited by Bolded1 on Aug 26th 2020 at 12:18:07 PM
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitter"Guys, my cuffs are starting to look a lot looser!" Miles called out excitedly, despite the fact he burned his skin a little. A small price to pay for freedom, of course,"Gonna see if I can't haul them off now..." He focused and began tugging with all his might on the cuffs to slide them off.
"That's great! We found a bunch of cleaning products to try and burn through them so we're gonna give that a try!" Nebula called back as she filled several small containers with the cleaning products, including one with liquid from some batteries.
A glance outside caused the punk spider girl to swallow a lump,"...We need to act fast. Who wants to go first?"
"I will." Corona said as she dipped a brush in and gently dabbed at the cuffs, wincing as she did so.
Zero took some of the wires from the repair station and plugged himself in,"Computer. Remove the restraint device placed on me."
With a lot of strength, and more than a little bruising, Miles eventually managed to pop one of the cuffs off, followed by the other one! Cue the victory fanfare.
Corona would find that the battery acid was effective, actually managing to weaken the metal quite a bit - after a bit of waiting, all it took was a good whack to destroy them.
On Zero's end, things weren't looking as good - the computer wasn't exactly receptive to his polite requests. Or any other requests, really. However, now that the others were starting to get their power back, it'd probably be easier to just let one of them smash it.
As this was all going on, and probably unbeknownst to most of them, the full moon simply... Blinked out. Gone. It'd be rather obvious, though, as a deep crimson light replaced it - the ominous glow of the Blood Moon.
"But of course." Draedon nodded. "It would not be much of a partnership at all, were you not allowed to make use of our facilities."
With a gesture, he opened a portal, leading directly into his workshop - the same one Miles had been through earlier, with huge robots hanging suspended and many smaller projects scattered around.
"Go right ahead. It is a bit of a mess, owing to some recent mishaps, but materials are plenty, and assistance provided by my countless drone helpers. I will have a guide set up to tour the rest of our facilities in short order."

The Courier get sliced but the TB 51 power armor is made to withstand energy of similar caliber, though his gargled cry of pain is enough to make the Sith know that he scored a good blow. Still, at least the armor absorbed the worst part of it, and the wounded madman immediately retaliate with a devastating jab, attempting to free Redacted as well.
Though his method of "freeing" is, perhaps, distinctly... crude, since it involves toppling the common foe with a jab. And if it works, he immediately moves to try to stomp him!
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitter