Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

"You shouldn't be. You did well with a type of game I assume you had never played before.", the being says. The image disappears.

"I await your challenge."

Luxord takes a bit to think of a challenge.

"Hmmm..."

He uses a trick card to conjure up a Reaper Nobody.

"The blade of the Reaper is a deadly one. Avoid being struck by it at all costs - if it hits you, your time gauge will decrease by nine ticks!"

It floats towards the dark figure and swings!

"Hm..."

The being easily slides to the side to avoid the Reaper Nobody's scythe swing.

"Steep consequences, but unless this thing is faster than it appears, I doubt it can catch me."

???'s Time Gauge: ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚

The Reaper vanishes.

It pulled a 'teleports behind you', naturally, and it does a very fast spin-slash with its scythe!

"!!!"

The being attempts to dodge, but gets struck at the last possible moment.

After the attack, the being remains still.

"..."

???'s Time Gauge: ❚❚❚

The Reaper is instantly dismissed upon a successful hit.

Luxord smirks. "I hope you can offer an equal challenge."

"..."

Suddenly, the being glows eerily. An eldritch and rather frightening vibe exudes from him now, which gives the being an otherworldly feeling. Not in the sense that he's an alien or something, but in the sense that he's something... different.

Just... different.

"I haven't been in a disadvantage this big in a long time. It is getting me very, very excited..."

He chuckles almost sinisterly.

"Your challenge will be... to avoid all attacks. Each singular hit, no matter how fast or small, will cost you a tick. This will last three full rounds."

He slides forward a bit, spreading out his arms more.

"We begin."

VS The Judge

The Judge then swings his arms, sending a storm of silver coins Luxord's way.

The final card that the Judge had on the field, meanwhile, starts to get raised up.

Luxord jumps, dives through card-portals, and raises barriers, but he still gets nicked by a couple of coins.

Luxord's Time Gauge: ❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚

The card now opens fully, revealing a flask. The flask will appear on Luxord's person, and he will be unable to remove it.

"Nitroglycerin. It will explode in either three rounds, or if I hit you. If it explodes... well, normally you would be taken out, but for the sake of fairness, let us say that it takes away half of your gauge. None of your actual health will be affected."

The Judge then gets cards in his hands and, after crossing his arms in an X-formation, slides towards Luxord rapidly, attempting to slash at him twice, the cards seemingly serving as makeshift claws.

If Luxord gets hit, the Nitroglycerin will go off.

Luxord lets himself be hit, detonating the nitroglycerin. Does he have some plan in mind?

Luxord's Time Gauge: ❚❚❚❚❚

"You stood there and took it?", the Judge asks, confused, but not letting it stop his attack for the final round of his challenge.

He has a bunch of razor-sharp cards fly towards Luxord from the left and right, then throws a pair of dice.

99.

"A Super Critical Hit. If you get hit by this attack... you'll lose five ticks instead of one."

Luxord just opens a Corridor of Darkness and dips out until the attack subsides.

Once it does, he reenters realspace.

"Well played. Your turn.", the Judge says, sliding back to the spot he was at before.

The 13th Struggle ~Luxord's Gambit~

Luxord looks through his trick cards.

"I have but one last survival game for you. Let's even up the deck!"

JACKPOT

He creates two huge cards whose symbols alternate between a thorny cross, some sort of starburst, and a strange, distorted heart emblem.

"It falls upon you to stop the wheel."

The Judge walks over to the wheel and attempts to stop the cards.

The Judge's Time Gauge: ❚❚

The cards stop on two heart-symbols.

Luxord makes a devious smirk. "... Jackpot."

The cards fire off a barrage of high-power energy blasts, finishing with one big explosive one! If the dark being gets hit, he's done for!

College of Winterhold - Arcaneum

"It still feels liike cheating. At least I learned how to do it myself." Aleifr relaxes a bit as Oca continues talking. People could just... help each other. Sometimes he forgets that. "Right."

"It's alright. I'm here looking for other sources to rebuild our Power Stones, anyway." Stones. Plural.

Blackreach

"I am no longer    mortal."    It strains his sight, regular and otherworldly, that's for sure, but Lambert continues gazing at Wormwood's true form. His body reacts on its own, black smoke swirling around him as, for a moment to the others, he almost seems like a snake shedding its skin. Not quite flesh wise, but a little bit, as this form he was born with is insufficient to meet this entity on more equal terms.

Eleven eyes. Even more souls.

As fast as the feeling came, it goes again. The smoke dissipates, and he stands once again as a diminutive, gnomish werewolf. Where one goblin was standing, there are now two. Siblings.

He smiles. "Hi Wormwood, I'm Lambert. What's your purpose in coming here?" Seeing the bullet, he shoots a disapproving look, though Wormwood should be more than capable of taking care of it.

Edited by AqueousBunnies on Mar 20th 2021 at 9:13:39 AM

"Well then... let's do this one more time. Tails."

He flips a coin. Time stops for a moment, until the coin lands.

Tails.

The Judge is covered in his protective aura, the blasts and explosion being nullified.

The Judge's Time Gauge: ❚

"It seems like we're both in quite a precarious situation now.", the Judge chuckles.

"Hm. Yes. Quite. A moment."

Luxord turns around and makes the most hilariously angry face◊ anyone could imagine.

This guy...!

He then pats his cheeks and calms down before turning to face the dark being. "It is your turn now."

"Very well. In that case-"

His hollow eyes emit a glow, after which a card circle forms around the duo. It seems like the Judge mimicked Luxord's attack.

"I figured that the best way to end things is with a leap right back to the start. After all, either you lose your remaining points here, or I will lose, or potentially tie, next round regardless. The same rules as in your version apply. One tick per failure."

The Judge vanishes into the cards. Unlike with Luxord though, either there seems to be no hints on which one he's in, or they're too subtle to notice.

Luxord brazenly chooses two wrong cards, taking the time loss.

And then he smirks and throws a card at the one with the dark being in it in order to flip it and reveal him.

Luxord's Time Gauge: ❚

The card turns, and the Judge turns back to normal.

"... so I came close to victory, but it has eluded me."

He seems strangely elated by this, going by his tone of voice.

"But let us see if I can make this into a tie. Choose the final challenge."

"Your games were most interesting."

Luxord draws a trick card with Xemnas on it.

Xemnas◊ appears and descends towards the battlefield.    "Hearts quivering with hatred... Hearts burning with rage... Hearts scarred by envy... That fool Ansem said the heart's true nature was beyond his understanding. But it's not beyond mine! Hearts are the source of all power!"   

And then he disappears.

In the time it took for him to finish his speech, the dark being's time gauge ran out.

The Judge, very confused, stands there and listens, waiting for this to get to the point.

The Judge's Time Gauge:

He then realizes what the point was.

"... Did you just... play me?", he asks, sounding incredulous.

"Like a fiddle," Luxord admits.

"But don't get broken up about it. After all, there were no stakes."

"That being said, I know there were no bets made on this game, but as victor, I would like to make a request. Tell me what I should call you, so that I may recommend you to certain... other gamblers."