Enter The Arena As Your Avatar V6: This Time, It's Personal

-Hatsuchiri lands amongst the debris, watching her marks fly off. Having exactly zero ranged combat abilities, she can do nothing to engage them at this point-

-She sighs. It's not exactly her fault that the first enemies she found are literal birds, but still...-

...I should have brought someone along.

As the jays fly off over a park, they spot something…

There’s a glowing piece of paper down there. Maybe it’s a clue to find the sword?

Let’s see…it says “To find the sword I have hidden for the Jay Trio, search for the trees in the arrangement of the second cube number, then follow it from the narrowest point to the rock that was born when this world was young.”, so it’s probably telling us to find a clump of trees in the shape of a number 8, then go from the “belt” of the 8 to a meteorite. Now, to the meteorite!

Isn’t that a bit too convoluted?

It needed to be convoluted; we’re the only ones that should get the StellaShiv!

Edited by IC1101 on Mar 4th 2022 at 10:02:05 AM

At that crater…

Well, it’s not the StellaShiv. But there’s more paper. This one reads: “Follow the beacon”. That’s it? “Follow the beacon”? There needs to be more-oh wait, nevermind. I can see the beacon now.

Now I feel more worried than ever. It’s been a long time, and nothing’s come out and attacked us.

Isn’t that a good thing?

Normally, yes. But now I think there’s something big that’ll happen soon.

Director Asriel looked out onto the healing green horizon. The countryside had suffered tremendously from the horrific cartel warfare spilling out the undercity and swallowing the fields of grain, shitting out opium and coke. He was never quite sure how he managed through without being couped or isolated or outright killed for the awful choices he had to make. And yet, and yet! He caught sight of one of the captured thugs aiding a farmer on the slopes of the next hill over till his soil. Even from his distant vantage he could sense the tension between them, but of course there was after all they had put each other through. What truly brought gladness into his weary heart was the way they accepted each other, supported each other in the world they had created and continued to create. Asriel leant against the railing, inhaling the cleansed air. How quickly it had cleared from ash and embers and pot smoke! The first resettlements of the old torched megafarms were due any day. Perhaps he ought to inspect the damage he ordered. It was his responsibility to fix after all, and how better than to roll one's sleeves up and beat his sabres into a plowshare? Looking down upon his little fiefdom he founded and defended with his life, the faintest curl of his lips tugged at the ends of his muzzle.

Perhaps all this suffering was worth it in the end.

Edited by Panzertruppen_Ein on Sep 25th 2022 at 2:26:41 AM

Asriel's troubles aren't over yet. Two sword-wielding figures come crashing down in a blaze of light. Before the Director can see much more than that, they make impact in a fiery explosion...

And only one emerges.

The Director of a lost homeland nonchalantly threw up his arm to shield his face. "I get all the freaks," he thought, looking this One-Winged Asswipe up and down. "Goth bar's the basement across the street, pal. This is my home now." He wasn't looking to repeat himself. In truth, Asriel did not recognise this being, and underestimating his foes had cost him - and his people - their home once before. Still, as Sun Tzu said: 'Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak', and so he didn't even bother turning to face the intruder as he dismissed him so sarcastically.

Sephiroth raises an eyebrow, an ever-present smirk on his face.    "My, aren't you a confident one."   

He struggles to get a read on the large goat-man standing before him, but no way is he going to take such mockery lying down. Sephiroth walks a few paces past Asriel, then twirls his signature sword, Masamune, into a reverse grip and stabs backwards to try and skewer him from behind.

Of course he would. Well, as the vampire said: Noroi, NOROI! The giant of a being sidestepped the linear thrust with surprising ease, leaving a small crater in the roof he was just settled on, before exploiting his full ten feet of height to lunge right for his foe's throat with his left hand, and throw and unpulled jab into his face with the other. After which he'd throw the feathery bastard to the floor and beat his bish-ass visage until it no longer resembled a face at all. That was the plan at least.

Sephiroth is caught at first, but the first punch bursts him into a cloud of black feathers.

   "So you're not all talk,"    his voice says, approaching Asriel from behind, only to disappear and reappear down below. He makes a beckoning gesture. His composure has yet to falter.

Edited by KiriK on Sep 25th 2022 at 5:19:44 AM

Asriel considered simply leaping off the edge and making to land on the smug jackass feet first. He got as far as lifting a leg over the railing before realising he'd be entering a swordfight unarmed. Nothing he couldn't handle, but someone so nonchalant would need a real weapon to take down. A weapon to surpass Metal G- uh- surpass... anything he could throw at him, yes. And so Director Asriel returned to the door and descended the stairs at a steady safe pace. Down the staircase he went, floor after floor of his turf carved out for the precious few monsters who were trapped in this exile with him. Pressing aside the door into the armoury, Asriel ducked inside and lifted his left hand out to his trident, mounted on the wall as magnificent centrepiece. With only the slightest willing it lifted away and flew into his hand, the momentum carrying him into the typical fancy spinning maneuvers one does when showing off with a polearm. His theatrics drew his attention to an anomaly in his display. The High-Frequency Spoon was a marvel of technology, ostensibly a blunt instrument yet capable of slicing as any frequency blade save the Murasama. "No, save it for Munch," Asriel thought, before turning away and trotting down the last of the stairs and leaving the building.

"Shall we take this outside then?"

Sephiroth has no idea what went down behind the scenes. He merely nods to Asriel.    "Outside means more space. Free rein to wreak havoc."   

He teleports further away again, reappearing on a city street. The One-Winged Angel draws the back of his sword along one arm, before twirling it to point at Asriel.    "Come."   

"I'm not endangering civilians just because you have something to prove, bishie boy," Director Asriel sighed, turning away towards city limits. "If you absolutely must have your 'grorious Nihon steel folded one-thousand times' embedded in my flesh we can go somewhere no hapless civilians will intervene or obstruct either of us." The goatish giant cared not for the pretensions of this supernatural swordsman, and even now he thought supposedly nothing of turning his back on this overstylised annoyance.

Somewhere nearby, a black goop-like entity rises from the ground. It's one eye looks around for a victim, then realizes that it's outside of it's home. It screeches loudly, and seraches for somewhere dark to inhabit. It soon finds a building to slink into, and slips into the cracks of it. Anyone who enters its building will have a nasty surprise waiting for them...

-a giant fucking robot descends in the middle of the street-

Edited by ArmoredFury on Sep 26th 2022 at 9:44:30 PM

Sephiroth scoffs.    "More than half the words you speak are nonsense. But if it's civilians you care so much about..."   

He raises an empty hand into the air.    "Then I'll just take care of them first."   

He seemingly sucks the light from his surroundings, causing the area to darken around him as a swirling ball of energy builds in his grasp. Asriel miiiiiight want to interrupt this before it's too late.

hey armored I only really know G Gundam, is that a specific character's Zaku or a generic one

and oh hey not intentional but now the area is dark for J08's character

Edited by KiriK on Sep 26th 2022 at 11:03:31 AM

The exiled Director raised his hand, and a bolt of lightning the width of his arm flashed into his murderous foe. By all accounts it should be blinding as it bounced between the two, giving Asriel ample cover to in turn bolt into Sepiroth and shoulder-check him to the ground, disrupting his concentration.

-The Zaku's mono-eye instantly locks into Sephiroth's physics-defying shenanigans. Giant robot or no, seeing an especially pretty man literally suck light to power a deathball is definitely a cause for concern. The pilot responds in the only language he was taught in: violence-

-Moving in a speed unbefitting it's size, the Zaku snaps around and levels its machine gun on the swordsman, firing a stream of 90 mm shells that will devastate the whole road section if nothing else-

it's a generic Zaku lmao

A small blob of the black goop seeps out of the building, searching for civilians while everyone else is busy.

   Ready or not...   

Sephiroth throws his Flare before it's fully charged, creating a sizable but not catastrophic explosion to catch Asriel's lightning and melt the gunfire.

   "Oh? We have visitors?"   

Thunderer - Final Fantasy XIV

He smirks as he sidesteps Asriel and raises his hand again.    "Shadow Flare."   

Instead of gathering light into his hand, he simply drives his palm downwards, sending a rain of orbs of darkness crashing down on Asriel and the Zaku. He ignores the shadow creature for now, given that it is not paying attention to them. However, he is stuck holding his hand down as he conjures up these orbs, so he seems to be wide open.

As for civilians, the dark skies, giant fucking robot, and explosions in the streets have already incited an evacuation, so at least Asriel won't have to worry about their lives as collateral damage.

Edited by KiriK on Sep 26th 2022 at 11:47:08 AM

-If the fact that one (1) guy just tanked an entire salvo from a Mobile Suit and a giant bolt of lightning from a goat demon didn't incite panic on the pilot, the imminent hail of clearly dangerous darkness orbs will-

-The Zaku's pilot wrenches the control stick backwards, sending the Mobile Suit into a jet-assisted back step — but to no avail. Sephiroth's dark projectiles melts through its titanium armor. Its leg verniers, responsible for maintaining the Zaku's posture in mid-air, are turned to slag from the barrage, sending the behemoth into an uncontrollable spin towards a nearby skyscraper-

gotta sleep soon. sorry for dropping off

Edited by ArmoredFury on Sep 27th 2022 at 12:12:19 AM

(The creature follows any remaining evacuees, not wanting to bother with combat. It wants easy targets until it can build up power.)

Edited by J08 on Sep 26th 2022 at 10:19:37 AM

Yellow electrical arcs crackled up Asriel's body, illuminating the dim streets as it congregated in the grand red trident within his left hand. Looking closely one would note he didn't even hold it, instead having levitate and spin overhead to deflect the falling orbs, striding across the cracked and cratered street without betraying any emotion. It certainly seemed that he was leaving himself wide open...

Sephiroth crouches down, then flies just a few inches off the ground, hovering at high speed to attack Asriel with a simple slash from Masamune.

—

The shadow creature will spot easy prey in the form of a girl who just slipped and fell as she was running.◊

what does it gain from eating people, just raw power or does it copy their abilities?

I'm not actually sure. Seek has very limited info on him so far, and I' mostly going off of context. In game, it's commonly believed that Seek gains raw power when he catches and kills people, so I'm going off of that until the game says otherwise.

   READY OR NOT... I SEEK...   

(Unless the girl gets up and somehow manages to outrun Seek, she'll be dead. Escape is unlikely.)

Director Asriel didn't even react. Not visibly at least. The etherial blade sliced downwards through the air, thirsting for whatever passed for blood in the goatish giant, lunging for the kill-

*snatch*

"Snap into a Slim-Jim!"◊

*sTIINNNG!*

...Good Lord in Heaven! As God is my witness, that sword is BROKEN IN HALF! With the orbs no longer falling, there was no need to keep one hand sustaining his trident's spin, and so crackling with the Hamon that would've gone into it, his other fist swung straight for Sephiroth's windpipe.