Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

"Because I learnt about this situation less than ten minutes ago. I have no doubt in your willingness to help me.", Pseudo answers. ... Surprisingly honest of him.

He then sees the impact of his attacks. ... or rather, the lack of impact.

"Of course. Explosives aren't effective against fire-users. Get it together already.", he thinks to himself.

"Viserys' fire blast won't work well either. So..."

His hands reattaching themselves, one of the spikes on his metal spider legs opens up, bringing out 42's saber. Then, gathering some electricity in his hands, an ability he copied from Thor, he fires the bolts of lightning right at Shadow Konngara.

Regardless of the results of that attack, he then forces himself towards Konngara's position by pushing himself off of the ground with his three free metal spider legs.

"Be careful, you're reaching your limit.", he says upon landing in front of her after she's attacked her Shadow.

"You are the only one of us who can defeat your Shadow, Konngara, but not by attacking. You have to try to accept her as part of yourself, that is the only way!"

He tries to cast PSI Life Up on Konngara to help her, but his database gives him an error message.

TECHNIQUE NOT RECOGNIZED WITHIN DATABASE

"Damnit, I forgot to re-copy that attack from Ninten due to how busy I was when the Cyber Angels were around...", he thinks to himself, cursing his lack of foresight.

The hooded being turns to look at Raven, and while his face is still obscured, the god might get the sense that the being's look of gratitude is so great that it borders on being funny just how grateful he is.

"Any luck?", someone suddenly asks Nicole. If she turns to look, she'll see Anna◊ smiling at her. A little distance further are Jake◊ and one of Anna's sisters◊, talking about something to each other. It seems serious, going by both of their expressions.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Oct 21st 2020 at 11:47:10 AM

Pietro dashes between Konngara and Shadow Konngara, whips up a Chaos Katana, then begins slashing away at the latter.

   "I know I give you crap for preaching about corruption and sin, but I can't deny that you're a badass, Konngara! And if you actually did manage to redeem Pseudo, well... I guess you can't be that bad."   

Offering Pseudo a smile, Wanda takes careful aim at Shadow Konngara before unleashing her long-since charged spell: a truly huge beam of scarlet-colored energy. Afterwards, she hurries over to Konngara's side and gets straight to healing her.

"She's not going to die here, Pseudo. Not if I have anything to say about it."

Nicole's ears perk up at the sound of Anna's voice, and she turns to greet her with a smile of her own.

"Hey, Anna! You're just who I was hoping to run into!"

Getting to her feet, she approaches the red-haired merchant and pulls her into a hug. While she notices Jake and the other Anna discussing something, she figured it might be best to let Anna explain it.

"How's my gold-loving sweetheart been?"

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Oct 21st 2020 at 3:08:41 AM

Shadow Konngara slices through the fireballs with the Treasure vajra and parries 42's strike with the real one, though the electric blasts and arcane energy knock her back a bit.    "You idiot... you still don't get it."   

She steps past Konngara and towards the other fighters, the contempt in a fleeting glance made clear, even in her unnatural eyes.    "I am not meant to test your faith in your god. Those 'mistakes'? The intent that caused them is still part of you, and it is me! We are one and the same, only that I am not lying to myself!"   

She looks aside as if in contemplation, speaking in a voice identical to Konngara's - even the Voice of the Legion effect is gone. "I am no righteous divine servant. I was merely in the right place at the wrong time, and from it I became a self-appointed arbiter of life and death. I am an evil spirit, not a divine one. A restless figment of a soul that should have burned in Hell for its countless sins, but deluded itself so hard into believing its own lies, that reality itself listened for a moment. That is all I am. That is all you are."

And then it's back to 'fuck all of you die' mode.    "And now those I consider comrades will suffer the pain of my arrogance!"   

Edited by KiriK on Oct 21st 2020 at 5:23:22 AM

Oh wow! Looks like we got separated from the others! Says Luffy, having somehow landed in Skyrim. His wounds and Zoro's are somehow healed, perhaps because of the portal or potent off-screen recovery.

Yeah... Anyhow, I guess we should go find something else to fight.

Yeah sure! Hey, should we get Sanji on this somewhere?

Zoro wordlessly leaves, and Luffy decides to immediately follows him. Huh, I wonder what he's up to...

Konngara simply stands there with wide eyes and a haggard expression on her face. "I am... not a yasha? But that would mean... that after I went to Hell... I was... never meant to leave. I was never meant to... break out..." Tears stream out of her eyes, creating wet trails on her charred face before evaporating in the heat of Hell. This is the first time anyone present here has ever seen her cry.

She goes silent for a moment, and for a moment it seems like she's going to accept the truth, but then she closes her eyes and her tears turn to Berserker Tears instead.

"No... that cannot be... that would mean... I failed my mission... I failed Fudou Myouou and I failed my life... That would mean... I never had any authority... that would mean... they all died in vain... no.    NO! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS!"    she screams, her own voice ironically sounding like that of her Shadow even as the Shadow mirrors her own.    "ENOUGH OF YOU! MY CAUSE... MY CAUSE IS RIGHTEOUS! I WILL NOT... I WILL NEVER BE UNDONE BY SUCH VILE TRICKERY AND SHAMELESS LIES, EVIL CREATURE! YOU! ARE! NOT! ME!"   

...and she collapses to the ground, completely unconscious.

Shadow Konngara looks back.    "Of course. Keep denying it. I've literally spelled it out to you."   

Then a dark aura builds around her.    "I'm sick of you all!"   

She tosses the true vajra aside, lifts up the Treasure vajra and impales herself with it.    "This... is... PENANCE!"   

With a seppuku-style slash, she explodes into darkness, and what emerges...

A Blade Swung With No Mercy Nor Remorse (Yaldabaoth - Persona 5)

...is a giant sword, many times the size of a man, standing upon its tip. The shining blade, sharp enough to cut molecules in twain, is wreathed in hellfire. Although polished to a mirror's surface, the surface of the sword reflects not its surroundings, instead, it randomly shows horrified reflections of various people, very likely Konngara's victims. However, the face that shows up most often - recognizable despite the lack of pointed ears and an unnatural skin tone - is that of Konngara herself, banging against the sword's surface from within, as if she was trapped inside.

The hilt of the gigantic weapon is in the shape of a vajra, however, instead of being turned outwards as usual, the "prongs" are turned inwards towards the hilt, and stylized in the shape of curved fangs that would sink into the hand of any titan who would dare wield it, giving the weapon a jabbering demonic mouth. Above that still sits a pommel in the shape of an eye. It's firmly closed, and seems to be making an effort to shut itself as hard as it possibly can, refusing to behold the harsh reality around it. Finally, floating in the air above the pommel is a small angelic halo, incongruous with the rest of the abominable weapon.

   "I am a Shadow... the true self. All who sin... no, all who stand in my way... I shall cleave them all in twain."   

   HASSOU TOBI   

The blade disappears from its position in a blur. The field is bathed in the crimson glow of blood as eight formidable thrusts from all sides attempt to skewer every single one of the fighters present.◊

Edited by Arachnos on Oct 21st 2020 at 11:27:57 AM

42 uses Athena's shield to defend herself from the Hassou Tobi, then retaliates with a rain of metal spikes. "Someone get Konngara to safety!"

"Way ahead of you!" Skippy manifests Laugh Track, leaps towards Konngara and stabs the Keyblade into the ground, creating a wall of light around him and her to ward off the devastating attack as he hefts her unconscious body over his shoulder.

Adachi gets bitched. He retaliates with a powerful swirling wave of darkness, the Magatsu Mandala!

Edited by KiriK on Oct 21st 2020 at 6:08:36 AM

Pseudo shows them both an appreciative smile before turning his attention back to the battle. Though even that doesn't last long as he notices Konngara's tears after hearing what Shadow Konngara says.

Pseudo is silent, not really knowing what to say to her, even if he wants to try to comfort her. He backs off a little though when she angers, taken aback when she rejects her Shadow and collapses.

"Konngara!"

He activates a communicator, about to contact Botar to try to get Konngara to safety. He's distracted when the Shadow impales herself though, witnessing her become the hellish blade itself.

Realizing what's probably about to happen the moment the blade disappears, Pseudo casts multiple PSI Shields around himself, which end up protecting him from the skewering thrusts. Still, it takes him a good bit of effort to keep them stable and strong enough, more than usual. His weeks of inactivity have taken a toll on him and it's starting to show.

Afterwards he immediately turns to look at Konngara, only to find, to his relief, that Skippy has it handled. He shows him an appreciative smile as well before looking around.

"I don't know what to do in this situation. 42, do you know how to deal with this!?", he asks while charging up energy in his hand, preparing to use the Annihilator Beam soon.

Anna eagerly hugs her back.

"I've been good! Traveling around with Jake like the good old times, at least until I heard about... well, you probably know about it too, don't you?"

After the hugs she grabs Nicole's hands in a 'best friend'-esque way.

"But before we have to get all serious and down, how about you tell me how you've been first?"

Edited by DevilPsyco on Oct 21st 2020 at 4:56:03 PM

Pietro dashes about to evade as many of the stabs as he can, only for several to connect and send him crashing to the floor.

   "Argh... anyone have any idea where she went?"   

After throwing a couple Chaos Grenades in retaliation, he begins struggling to his feet.

"Where's that group of kids and their talking cat when you need them?"

Wanda throws up a barrier to defend herself, then telekinetically seizes the blades her barrier can't reach.

"Dammit, Konngara! You just had to accept this Shadow monster like Pseudo said, but no, you can't help being all prideful..."

Nicole grins warmly at Anna.

"Well, I've been... pretty busy, to say the least. My buddy Nik and I've been making plans to take down a tyrant and his legion of doom, I met a dude who's part of a group opposing said tyrant and he gave me a quest, I went with these guys to visit Sam's posse and learned about, well... that, and I've found you and Jake."

She chuckles lightly, and gives Anna's hands a reassuring squeeze.

"It really is great to see you again, by the way."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Oct 21st 2020 at 4:49:30 AM

It is impossible to seize the blades telekinetically because every single one of the stabs comes from Shadow Konngara, moving faster than the eye can track. After the attack is over, she reappears in the same spot as before. The mouth continues jabbering on:

   "Where I go, destruction follows. You are not the first nor the last to burn."   

   AGIDYNE   

The blade points itself at 42. The hellfire that surrounds it flows around it in a spiral shape, focusing at the very tip, and a powerful blast of flames is launched at the Silicon Magical Girl.

   "Bravery does not exist. There is only the skill of closing one's eyes to the inevitable."   

   BRAVE BLADE   

Shadow Konngara assumes an iaijutsu stance, as if being wielded by an invisible hand, then rushes forward faster than light in an attempt to cleave Pietro in twain in a Single-Stroke Battle. If this attack connects, it will dish out immense damage with a high chance of scoring a critical hit.

42 is blown back by the fireball, but picks herself up. "Easy. We do what you did when it happened to me - keep the victim nearby, beat the Shadow until it stops fighting, then try and get her to accept it. Then it'll all work out."

Pseudo may recall something Margaret told him...

"I honestly don't know if Konngara's Shadow will allow itself to be accepted. But if it is willing to make amends, that could be the only way to stop it from killing her."

Why do I have to play the Navigator role? 42 asks herself.

"To make this go faster... The logical weaknesses would be water and ice, to douse her flame, and electricity, since metal is conductive. Holy attacks might also work, since she's an infernal entity pretending to be divine." She changes the properties of the Void Keeper sword to Splash, surrounding it in bubbling water, then morphs it into a naginata and goes for a flurry of whirling slashes on Shadow Konngara.

Skippy sets Konngara down outside the hell-gate, then rushes back into the fight. He throws Laugh Track at Shadow Konngara, then teleports up to it and follows up with a flurry of swings before morphing the Keyblade into a pair of car horns and blaring them for a sonic blast!

Adachi grumbles and fires his gun at Shadow Konngara.

"Alright, so for now, we should focus on winning the fight.", he says, nodding to 42.

"Make amends..."

He glances back at Konngara for a moment.

"I'll have to wait for the moment she wakes up and the Shadow is weakened enough."

He then hears 42's hint.

"Then I'll keep using lightning."

Two of his metal spider legs begin to spin around like parts of an engine, kicking up more electricity, while the third one sends electricity down to the almost-ready Annihilator Beam.

He then aims at Shadow Konngara the moment she stops moving, firing an electrified Annihilator Beam her way.

"That sounds busy alright.", Anna says. "And it's great to see you again too! It's too bad Clarisse isn't back yet, she would've wanted to say hello to you too for certain~"

Acting fast, Pietro dashes straight towards Shadow Konngara and blocks her strike with a Chaos Longsword, engaging her in a fierce Blade Lock.

   "I really hope this is the last time I'll have to fight one of these freaking things!"   

Wanda, meanwhile, uses Elemental Magic to launch a few lightning bolts at Shadow Konngara before glancing at Pseudo and 42.

"I'm going to make sure Konngara's alright out there!"

She hurries out of the hell-gate, crouches beside the prone Konngara, and gets to healing her.

"Well, at least she'll be in for one helluva surprise when she gets back," Nicole replies. "Where is Clarisse, anyway?"

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Oct 21st 2020 at 5:55:38 AM

Outside? of Ragnvald

Although she is heavily damaged, Wanda should have the impression that Konngara's life is in no immediate danger, at least not from her injuries. In fact, she didn't even seem to collapse unconscious from her injuries at all, but rather some kind of supernatural effect. It's probably best for Konngara's sake that she return to the battle at hand.

Meanwhile...

The magical sword reels in pain from the attacks directed at it, especially Pseudo's electrified Annihilator Beam, dealing severe damage. This allows Pietro to escape without too much damage, though likely not completely unscathed as bladelocking with a sword several times your size is rarely bound to end well.

   "When savior becomes destroyer, hope is naught but despair's herald."   

   NEGATIVE PILE   

The sword suspends itself above Skippy before dropping down upon him, blade-first, with a small shockwave of wailing darkness. If he is impacted by the strike or the wave, he has a chance of being paralyzed by overwhelming magical despair, unable to take actions until a comrade manages to assist him. He will recognize this power - it's dangerously similar to the Chairman's Positive Reinforcement.

   "Thus open the gates of Hell, and the fires of below scorch the world above."   

   INFERNO   

The sword plants itself into the ground. The earth beneath Pseudo Porky splinters with a wail of a thousand damned souls, launching a geyser of flames in the shape of contorted agonizing faces. This has a high risk of setting him on fire, dealing extra damage over time.

   "I look into the hearts of all and see only filth. Pruning and weeding is no longer enough. The garden of life will be plunged into flames."   

   WHITE LOTUS FLAME   

Shadow Konngara describes several flourishes in the air, leaving in her wake beautiful blossoms composed of dancing white fire. Then, in a single strike, she scatters these flowers to the wind, sending an avalanche of their burning petals at the group like a swarm of will-o-wisps. They deal extra damage to those with evil or impurity within their being, and may be particularly dangerous to Pseudo, maybe Pietro in his Chaos Form, possibly to 42... Skippy has very little to worry about, though.

Edited by Arachnos on Oct 21st 2020 at 2:09:35 PM

>>

Skippy is struck by the attack and sinks into despair, but 42 smacks him to snap him out of it. He conjures up a bunch of cream pies out of magic and launches them at Shadow Konngara.

Adachi takes massive damage from the White Lotus Flame. He is nopeing out of this one.

Edited by KiriK on Oct 21st 2020 at 9:15:57 AM

Pseudo is completely unprepared for what's coming and gets hit by the geyser. Inflicting a painful burn status to him, he flinches and stumbles back a bit. In his state his weary body isn't fully able to deal with this as well as he normally would.

He does manage to cast a PSI Shield just in time to block the follow-up attack, but he has no choice but to take a moment to rest, leaving him unable to immediately counterattack.

"Making sure Old Hubba is safe. There's been some weird Outrealms activity going on for a while now so she stayed behind to protect him for a while.", Anna says.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Oct 21st 2020 at 4:56:20 PM

Snarling in pain from being burned by the White Lotus Flame, Pietro attempts to blow the remaining petals away with a giant Chaos Fan reminiscent of Temari's folding fan.

Relieved that Konngara was alright, Wanda hurries back through the hell-gate, then rejoins the fray by telekinetically seizing the throne and hurling it right at Shadow Konngara.

"Don't worry, Konngara will be okay!" she assures Pseudo. "Let's just focus on bringing down her worse half!"

"Oh, good on her. So... I'd ask you what Jake and one of your many identical sisters are talking about over there," Nicole says, gesturing to Jake and the other Anna, "but I think I already know the answer to that."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Oct 21st 2020 at 8:16:04 AM

"Yeah, we've been asking around for help from my sisters. ... and negotiating on prices.", Anna says, sighing.

"Unfortunately, doing things for free doesn't exist in my family."

"Hey, I already agreed on 20% less than what I originally asked 'cause we're sisters.", the other Anna suddenly says, looking at Nicole and Anna for a moment. After waving a quick hello at the former she turns back to Jake, continuing their conversation.

Nicole waves at the other Anna in return before turning back to Anna.

"Even though I've got a lot on my plate right now with that tyrant I mentioned, you can bet every piece of gold you've got that I'll be there when Grima shows his ugly face," she assures with a grin. "And I'm gonna make sure he stays dead this time."

Mar Nods, saying "Huh. Wish I was like that, it's not common someone can make their way across lands like these with only their fists. Still, Impressi-"

He notices where domon is looking, and then looks over to vincent, before saying "BINYOT, What the Grima are you doing over there! It's your naga damn wedding soon!"

Vincent simply smiles, walking over, before saying "I apologise for my unprofessional behaviour, Prince Marth The Fifth, but you know your brother has a habit of getting lost. I see you made an aquaintance."

Vincent quickly nods to domon, saying "I am Exalt Vincent the First of the Halidom of Yilesse. It seems you have met my brother already."

Edited by ReynTheLord on Oct 22nd 2020 at 9:30:30 AM

Domon taps his cheek, trying to recall something. "That... sounds familiar."

Grima, Marth the Fifth, Ylisse...

Suddenly, it clicks. "Oh! Are you from the same bloodline as Lucina?"

Mar Looks towards Domon, saying "That's... Right, although if you mean exalt lucina the first, It's been over a millenium since her time. And, seeing as you didn't recognize me at a glance, you're not from the halidom... and because you went right to lucina... That mean's she's here too, right?"

Vincent simply sighs, before saying "Fives, you've barely even met the man, and you're asking him about who he's met... Where's your manners? She is here, though."

Mar seems to zone out after this, pondering to himself...

Vincent walks up and offers Domon a handshake, saying "I apologise for my brother's... awkwardness..."

Somewhere in Reprium

A dark figure was basking in the magic-saturated atmosphere of Reprium, seated on a rocky outcrop, his visible eye closed, his expression relaxed.

Beside him, simply having been leant back against the stone, was his signature lamp-like staff, ever-so-faintly pulsating with dark energies.

Reprium - Null

A man with one arm was walking through the land of Reprium. Unsure of why he was there, all he knew was that he had to get stronger. His master wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

He just so happened to walk near the dark figure. Noticing his presence, but not reacting to it. After all, there isn't any danger in just bumping into someone right?

The dark figure's eye snapped open. A subtle move, too. One would not notice it if they weren't paying attention.

Eventually, he inclined his head to face the one-armed man, a hand reaching out to grip his lamp-staff as he carefully regarded the other person.

"Ah, greetings," he spoke, his voice carrying a faint lilt, "I assume you noticed my presence because I was relaxing here?"

He tilted his head towards the man, a half smile creeping across his face

"Why yes, I did. Although I did not acknowledge you because I had hoped to slip by without bothering you. After all, you seemed to be enjoying the air."

His eyes shot to the weapon, and slowly, a dark crimson aura filled the air around him, and that energy was gathering to where his arm should be. Slowly the energy formed itself into an arm, attaching itself to his shoulder