Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

In a subversion of proportions most epic, Greed uses himself to take the hit from the Chaos Warhammer (stunned for a moment), then tries to whack BE!Pietro upside the head from the side with the Chaos Shield.

   "Nah, I'll tell you when I am~"   , he teases.

"I guess the world is small after all, even in a place like this one."

Varik then starts putting on his armor and he continues talking.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that.", he says as his head pops out of the armor's neck hole.

"Huh, I wonder if Reyna's connections would have use for a bounty hunter. Maybe they'll be willing to hire me for a job."

He then pauses.

"... But I really don't wanna ask Reyna something like that because then she'll think I'm 'repaying' her by using her for my own gain.", he mutters to himself as he puts on the belt that has the grappling hook on it.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Feb 27th 2021 at 3:48:59 PM

Perplexed by Greed's unorthodox ploy, BE!Pietro ends up whacked upside the head and knocked back by the Chaos Shield. Despite this, he flashes a grin at his sparring partner upon recovering.

   "Good, good! I'd hate for this to be a total letdown!"   

Whipping up a pair of Chaos Power Fists on his arms, he dashes headlong at Greed and goes for a quick series of punches.

"Oh, I doubt you'll need to worry about that, my friend. If anything, she would probably consider it a fair thing to ask," Thor assures.

"Indeed. I imagine she'd be surprised that you didn't think to make such a proposal sooner," Loki chimes in.

   "Ah, don't be so hard on yourself. Yer doin' great at keeping me entertained."   , Greed laughs, throwing the Chaos Shield upwards to start parrying BE!Pietro's powered-up punches with his own covered punches, going for a good old fashioned anime fist fight.

"Hm... maybe. I'll see. I'd only ask if I'm absolutely sure she wouldn't get the wrong idea.", Varik says. He straps Planetbuster to his back, resting over a light shield, and straps his regular, heavier shield to his arm.

And finally, he grabs his soft drink off of the ground.

"I should get going in a bit, I'm getting hungry and it's not that short a distance towards the nearest town I know in this area.", he says.

   "Glad to hear it! Man, the others have no freaking idea what they're missing right now!"   

As sparks fly when his fists collide with Greed's in their epic punch-up, BE!Pietro casts the briefest of glances at the presently airborne Chaos Shield.

   "But at least we'll have a damn good story to tell them once we're done!"   

He dashes back when the clash reaches its peak, ensnares the Shield with a Chaos Chain, and swings it at Greed like a flail.

"Would you mind at all if Thor and I joined you?" Loki inquires. "As it turns out, we were actually considering stopping for a meal ourselves before we encountered you."

"And in case you might be wondering, no, you don't have to worry about Steppenwolf's master trying to succeed where he failed," Thor says, offering Varik a grin. "Perhaps he knew it wouldn't be worth the effort after seeing how badly we kicked his general's arse."

Greed looks up for a moment when the Chaos Shield is snatched.

   "Huh, there goes my pla-"   

He then gets hit in the face by the improvised flail and falls on the ground. Strangely, as he gets up, he stops using his Ultimate Shield.

While surprised, Varik is visibly not against the idea.

"I see no reason to mind.", he says as he wipes his hair in front of his eyes again. Apparently he styles his hair that way on purpose.

He then hears what Thor says.

"Man, that feels like a lifetime ago. Somehow I feel like it's been so long and I've missed so much, but then I remember it's only been a couple of years."

Little Devil

The sun also shines upon Flandre. In sharp contrast to Muzan, she actually does burst into flames, her skin turning into cinders in the sunlight. However, although she grits her teeth in agony, she doesn't turn to ash in an instant like a demon would.

"Ah... So this is why sis wanted to cloud all of Gensokyo in red mist... sunlight really is a pain..."

She extends a hand, and a swarm of bats rushes over, carrying a traditional blood-red oil-paper umbrella decorated with images of roses and bats. Under the shade of this parasol, the burning effect ceases, and soon enough, her skin returns to its former pristine whiteness, like a porcelain doll. Seems like sunlight burns are not permanent on her. "Sister gave this to me as a birthday gift. But I don't get to use it much... after all, I'm not allowed outside very often. Ah, she and Sakuya would freak out if they knew I was out here, and way past bedtime too... but I can stay just a few minutes more... Beside, they're not here right now... and what that girl doesn't know won't hurt her, right?"

She then notices that Muzan is not on fire. She tilts her head in confusion. "That's wrong... aren't you supposed to burn up, too? You're cheating! Stop cheating!" she pouts, completely forgetting that not a minute ago she didn't want him to burn up. She then turns to Joseph, an eerie smile on her face.

"Lost, mister thorn? Don't be silly." She turns her attention back to Muzan and opens the palm of her free hand, the one that's not holding the umbrella. Muzan, and anyone else with similar "true sight", can see an indistinct red flickering shape appear in her palm, surrounded by crimson rune circles.

She clenches her fist, crushing... whatever she is holding. In an instant, it seems like some kind of critical point - whether physical or metaphysical - that allowed Muzan's body to keep its cohesion falters, causing him to burst like a squashed fruit, reducing him to a bloody stain on the floor.

"You see, this is why I'm not supposed to be outside, mister... I break everything."

Edited by Arachnos on Feb 27th 2021 at 11:16:59 AM

BE!Pietro prepares himself for whatever attack Greed had planned next... only to realize that he wasn't using his Ultimate Shield anymore.

   "Um... Greed? You sure you don't wanna armor back up again?"    he asks, remaining alert in case this might be a ploy to catch him off-guard.    "Because I don't remember dropping it mid-fight being one of your best moves."   

"I know exactly how you feel, lad. It seems like ages ago that we first met on the battlefield or forged some of our closest friendships," Thor replies.

"Now, I enjoy reminiscing about the past as much as the next person," Loki chimes in, "but I suspect we'll have plenty of time to recall our fond and not-so-fond memories over a fresh meal."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Feb 27th 2021 at 8:16:15 AM

   "Nice of you to worry, but I think I'll be just fine."   , Greed says, grinning confidently.

Perhaps as a way to alleviate said worry, he does coat his hands in his Ultimate Shield again though.

"I don't like reminiscing about my past at all.", Varik notes, though then smiles, again, though again only for a moment.

"But I guess the things that have happened since I met Reyna are worth talking about."

He then starts walking away, knowing that Thor and Loki will follow.

   "Alright, then. Just don't be surprised if you start losing the upper hand."   

Conjuring up Chaos Magic replicas of Black Widow's batons, BE!Pietro speeds towards Greed and launches into a swift flurry of strikes.

Thor and Loki begin following Varik to wherever he planned on eating.

Sarah looks surprised but composes herself before preparing to strike again... then the flash occurs, and it swallows her whole!

Antichamber

Sarah awakens in the room, her memories of earlier very quickly coming back to her. She get up, having remembered her fight. She notices both the teleportation spell and the sturdiness of her surroundings, but decide not to try to force out either. Instead, she stretches her arms and yawn, deceptively using her senses to scan her surrounding.

Well, this is pretty spooky.

The Sister walk through the path given to her, keeping her hands neatly folded behind her back, but also being on her guard

...

Thor "awakens" as well, though he's a bit less patient than Sarah about it. In the distance, Martin will see the spot where he is blows up as a shape head for him.

Uh-oh.

...

Vegeta fires his own blasts to counter Angel's, and then end it up with a potent sweeping beam, destroying the swords and intending to blast her from above. He seems focused on it, enough so that he can't see Luffy coming up along to attack.

However, Luffy isn't there yet!

A sweeping beam? Hmm, now, she could attempt to counter... and risk disrupting her ally. No, she was going to work with them.

She needed something... yes! That would most certainly work!

"Monado Armor!"

A barrier composed of partially transparent purple hexagons formed around her body. Swiftly, she bolstered this secondary defense with a primary defense, forming the natural barrier available to her as a blade. Together, these defenses easily prevented the sweeping beam from harming her in the least.

Monado Armor: 2 turns remain

Hearth of Shadows - Edge of the World

Seeing Thor charge towards him almost immediately after waking up, Martin sighs and summons his axe and shield, while his storm aura starts to crackle over his body. "I won't hesitate to fight and defend this place." He glances back to the village in the distance, full of people who are unaware of his chief's latest hare-brained plan. "Though I'd very much rather not have to."

Church? - Antechamber -> Main Hall

It's scrambled and muted by the protective magic, but Sarah is able to detect Thor and Martin outside, though the distances don't quite make sense.

As she opens the door, she's greeted by the view of two rows of benches in the small main hall. At the other end of the room is an undecorated stone throne with her adversary sitting in it, six feet tall, back in his normal colors, heavily bruised and battered. Donned with a simpler, grey version of his templar armor, a beam of light softly shining down on him. Her view of him has never been clearer, with no more jamming enchantments on his person, or really any active magic, with the rest of his seals sequestered... probably in the cellar below, along with all the artifacts he was using before and then some. It's almost blinding in comparison.

For a moment, Aleifr is showing his truest form, and at his most vulnerable.

He starts off with a tangent, like a stalling trickster is wont to do. "In case you're the least bit curious about the architecture and decor... church, containment chamber, private experimentation lab, potayto, potahto. With a little bit of pixie dust thrown in."

His expression then becomes somber. "I'll cut the bullshit for a moment. I need your power, or one like yours. A body that can withstand the strain of repairing, dragging a demiplane and tearing open stable, permanent gateways without almost having my entire essence consumed in the process. Lambert and Martin are going along with this, but I refuse to put that risk on the rest of my people."

He leans forward, the shadows building on his face making him seem more sinister. "So, either you power up to the point where you can break out of this prison, or I'll take it off your body, alive or dead, and do it myself."

He leans back again with a pained groan, wearing the face of an old man. Burdened with responsibility and regret, who's pondered a great deal about going to these lengths. The crown hangs heavy on his head, literally. "Or you could strike me down right here before I can power back up, and Thor will probably brute force his way to rescue you given... oh, a day or two. Not that you can measure that by looking at the sky here."

Is this part of the test? Is this his way of pleading for help? Is it him looking for an excuse to take the burden off his shoulders, and his head with it? Maybe it's all of those.

"And before you question why I didn't just ask you... consider your friend, and some of the people he'd lead in a different world, in some ways not far off from mine. I'm a raider. It's in my blood."

Edited by AqueousBunnies on Feb 27th 2021 at 2:27:33 PM

"Don't be stupid. Yeah i could do that"

She giggled at her own stupid joke

"So where's the hideout or whatever? Do you guys just meet up in an alley or something?"

Sarah listens to his spiel and quietly nods before pouting, of all things, causing her to lean forward with her hands on her hips, like she's about to reprimand a child.

So, you want me to use my full power to punch a hole from here to the Arena? I'm rather sorry but I've got a few questions to ask beforehand. She leans back. So first, what are you going to do with it? Are you out to invade the Arena or something? I'd rather not unwittingly bring troubles around it. And I'd rather not kill you, too, because... you know that we were supposed to see your powers, hm?

Then, she tilt her head. So, just promise me that you won't be doing anything too bad, hm? Also, punching a hole in space-time is rather dire. Have you calculated for the risks? Do you have any proof that I won't just cause some catastrophic collapse in the space-time continuum? Not to mention that opening a permanent hole is going to be taxing. I need the assurance that you won't try to do anything weird with my power if I'm out of it.

She uses her senses, her electro-magnetic powers and just her wits to analyze his answer, looking out for any lie or false-truth that he may deliver her.

And, hmph, I'd rather not stay there. I don't want to be rescued like some hapless damsel, and I have a dinner date tonight. Plus my family would be worried sick you know. Had you asked, it would've been easier, I don't care much about that being in your blood or something.

...

GOMU GOMU NO RHINO SCHNEIDER! Luffy yeets himself into Vegeta, having activated GEAR FOURTH to become a ballon-shaped man, with a good deal of his body covered in some black substance. Said substant, he coat his fees with it, nailing Vegeta on the top of his head.

Vegeta land on the ground feet-first, more stunned than injured, but Angel may attack while he's distracted!

...

... No. Hph, follow me.

Shiggy turn around, and simply start to walk away.

An excellent opportunity presents itself!

This time, she isn't going to miss! Pointing her sword at the Saiyan prince, she shouts.

"Monado Jail!"

By itself, a harmless action, forming magical emerald-green chains around the ankles and wrist of its target that root them in place.

"Lacerna Noctis!"

She shouts once again, her wings growing even grander than the last time, closing in on the enemy before her. Once again, an attack with low damaging power, but the ability to seal its targets power in its base state.

Greed closes his eyes all of a sudden, then suddenly jumps over BE!Pietro's flurry attack without opening his eyes again.

Mid-leap, he attempts to go for a powerful kick to BE!Pietro's head, still with his eyes closed. Despite that, his aim is just as good as it'd be with his eyes open.

Though BE!Pietro's surprise at Greed's complete change in tactics is brief, that moment is just long enough for the Homunculus' kick to connect. With a pained grunt, he hits the ground.

   "Argh... Careful, Greed. Lust wouldn't be happy if I came back to the hideout with my face all busted up."   

Pulling himself back up, he swings a pair of Chaos Chains at Greed in the hopes of ensnaring his arms. If successful, he'll follow up by attempting to reel him in and deliver a kick to the gut.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Feb 28th 2021 at 10:00:02 AM

   "Nah, Lust knows that I play rough, so she'll understand."   , Greed grins, swiftly dodging (still with his eyes closed) the first Chaos Chain. The second one gets him though, and he opens his eyes in surprise as he gets reeled in, unable to react before he gets kicked in the gut and falls on the ground.

He recovers from this fast though, suddenly coating his leg in his Ultimate Shield and, without getting up, attempting to deliver a potent sweeping kick to BE!Pietro's legs to trip him.

   "I don't know, she'd probably make an exception if it was me who- oof!"   

Before he can finish speaking, BE!Pietro gets tripped up by Greed's sweeping kick and hits the ground as well, landing beside his sparring partner.

   "Good shot! I'd ask if you think you can go for at least a couple more rounds, but something tells me I already know your answer!"   

Without getting up, he retaliates by attempting to slug Greed in the face with a Chaos Power Fist.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Feb 28th 2021 at 10:27:43 AM

Greed jumps back up.

   "Good to see you know me well."   , Greed smirks, after which he uses his Ultimate Shield on his face to tank BE!Pietro's boosted punch and return a punch to the face of his own.

Nagato's scan will determine that Muzan was, at one point, a normal human with a deadly disease, before he became a monster that was cured of the disease. As a 'demon' or 'oni', Muzan had insane regenerative power only slightly below what he has now, but could be killed by exposure to sunlight or by decapitation with a special kind of sword - one which Zantetsuken seems to match.

However, using the Red Stone of Aja, he has become the Ultimate Thing, who can only be truly, permanently killed with atomic-level annihilation or reformatting into inorganic matter.

"Whoa, that power is insane!" remarks Joseph, witnessing Flandre destroying Muzan.

However, the scan is quickly proven accurate, as the smears on the ground swirl back together and instantly merge back into the Demon King.

He stands there, simmering in silent rage, before suddenly forming a mouth from one arm and trying to messily eat Flandre with it.

Doomguy strafes around the area, keeping his distance for the time being.

"Ohoh, I didn't really have anything to contribute. I was just making comments. The gear you'd need to fuse a staff is all back in my world."

Phosphora rubs her chin. "Although, staffs in my world aren't just used for casting magic - they're also sniping weapons."

She pulls up an image of the Somewhat Staff, and points to what Nyr would probably assume is the bottom of its neck.

"Energy blasts come out of this end."

Terlette ponders for a moment, then points to the passage about 'fragments dark from bloody seas'.

"I've found a strange black ore in a mine on the island of Raven Rock. Might be referring to that."

She could probably destroy this guy in a huge blast... but that would kill everyone else here, possibly including herself.

Nagato chants a small chant and tries to inflict Paralysis on Muzan, to slow him down enough to everyone to easily work around whatever he might try to do in the next round or tow.

Leaping back to his feet as well, BE!Pietro narrowly manages to evade the oncoming punch by darting aside. Afterwards, he returns Greed's smirk.

   "You know, maybe one of us should've left a note or something for the others before we came here,"    he remarks.    "Wouldn't want Father to think we pulled an Envy and got ourselves in really deep shit."   

He cracks his knuckles, conjures up a Chaos Magic replica of Mjolnir, and takes a mighty swing at Greed.

The Hunter pulls out a blue little glass orb, swirling with a mysterious liquid inside, and just YEET it at Muzan. If it land on him, or if he's exposed to the fumes that come out of it, his healing factor will be, if not weakened, outright nullified!

And the Hunter will be happy to let him discover it by trying to carve a deep flaming gash unto his side with a blow from the halberd-axe. Then, they transform the weapon back into a simpler shape, raise it over their head, and try to s-s-s-s-s-slam him on the head with it, though the flames fade out afterwards.

Regardless of success, the Hunter tries to go to town on Muzan, slashing/smashing away with calm brutality.

...

Vegeta is struck by both moves and power back to base. He looks ever so surprised, which allows Luffy to raise his arms and unleash hell with a KING KONG GUN BARRAGE!!!, unleashing a barrage of very potent, Haki-infused fists using both arms!

...

A BATTLE BETWEEN YOU AND I WOULD VERILY NOT LAST LONG ENOUGH FOR THE POPULACE TO BE ENDANGERED!

LET THE WOMAN BE, LEAST YOU WISH FOR ME TO BLOW APART THAT CONSTRUCTION OF YOURS! LEST YOU WISH TO TASTE THE MIGHT TO REND WORLDS, DIRECTED SOLELY UPON YOUR STUPID TINY HEAD!

Thunder strike in the sky, a hint that Thor is unhappy.

Edited by Bolded1 on Feb 28th 2021 at 8:09:44 PM

   "Nah, we're close enough for Father to sense me. He knows what's up."   

He tries to fully block it again, but even with the Ultimate Shield he can't fully nullify a Mjolnir replica's impact. As such, he gets sent flying back and into a tree.