Round 3 League of Nightmares VS Misery Business

[Enigmatic Immortal]

This thread will open at midnight on Thursday (00.00) and will last for two weeks. Good Luck!

[Zack Blaze]

Zack’s eyes darted back and forth, watching his partner to make sure that she did not get herself in trouble. He could barely hear the seagulls overhead due to the cheering of the crowd. For the first time since the Lornius Corporate Championship had begun, Misery Business had decided to play by the rules (albeit slightly) and arrive where the semi-final match of the tournament was to be determined. The wooden boards beneath the youth’s feet felt sturdy enough to survive a few bodies being thrown to and fro.

Water from the waves below crashed against the walls of the dock and splashed upon Zack’s face. He calmly wiped away the beads of seawater from his features, sniffling a little while continuing to watch his partner’s erratic motions. The sea had managed to loosen up Zack’s sinuses, and the street fighter had found himself fighting a bad runny nose rather than his opponents. He inhaled, an odd ‘snork’ sound coming from the boys nostrils. “Wherever these League of Nightmares guys are, I sure wish they’d hurry up.”

“Relax,” Agnie passed by her partner, the sweet smell of her cake flavor musk temporarily masked the stench of seawater and fresh seafood, “The longer they wait to show up, the more opportunity I have to board more ships.” Zack nodded, wiping some residual mucus away from his face with his sleeve. Ags was quickly approaching a small shrimp vessel, pushing her way through the various onlookers as she casually boarded the boat and looked at the single door leading to the navigation controls.

Zack smiled at these seemingly meaningless gestures. The piers had been docked to the brim with various ships today in anticipation of the Lornius semi-finals. A massive group of onlookers had managed to find their way onto dry land for the event, which had been set to take place here for the very amusement of these people. It was a great way to get the name ‘Misery Business’ out there, and the access to all the watercraft of differing shapes and sizes wouldn’t hurt for future endeavors either.

“Be sure to get the passenger ship over there,” Zack jostled his head down the port, where a massive white boat laid docked, various tourists hanging off of the rails, anticipating the coming brawl. Zack waved to the people, raising his arms high into the air to pander to his audience. The crowd ate the charade up, heralding the less menacing sounding ‘Misery Business’ as their choice of champions over the far more sinister ‘League of Nightmares’. Ags rolled her eyes as she continued her way down the docks, towards a trawler, boarding on and then off the boat.

“Mumsy always warned me about men with power,” she said while walking past her partner, causing a corner of Zack’s lip to rise into a smirk.

“And Dad always taught me to stay away from girls with too many openings. Guess we’re both going against type, huh?” Zack’s hands formed into fists, his left crackled with the power of electricity while the right billowed tiny streams of smoke. He was ready for any attack the League of Nightmares could possibly throw at him.

Ags turned, her own features painted into a smirk across her ruby lips. “I guess we are, Zacky, I guess we are.”

[Abomination]

Bunnying of everyone by everyone approved for this thread, in case it needed to be stated.

The tourists on the white boat leaned on the railing, their idle chatter and anticipation filling the air. The women wore dresses while the men wore collared shirts with poofy sleeves, their decorum oozing class and sophistication. Despite their social status, they came here to watch nothing more than a brawl, to watch people kill each other. They were beginning to wonder when the show would begin. One woman in particular tapped impatiently on the sundial on her hand, the shadows moving slightly as she made sure the brim of her hat was not obscuring the light. Her elegant green dress and corset were in pristine condition, but there was something afoul in the air. It was hard to tell with the salty smell of the sea, but there was something... metallic in the air. It was not a smell that someone of her position would know. The other tourists had not noticed yet, but she had more pressing matters to deal with it as she felt a light drizzle on her dress, a bit of moisture that she assumed was from a particularly large wave crashing into the ship. However, the smell was now more profound, and others started noticing it as well. She felt the moisture again on her dress, reaching instinctively for the parasol at her side, since it felt like it came from above. Another droplet fell, this time on her extended arm, and she looked up and squinted into the sun. There was no rain, but there was something else. Large, long objects hanging off the mast of the ship. Someone else pointed upwards and mentioned that they looked familiar.

Suddenly, there was a large crash from the other side of the ship. It was followed immediately by several screams, which unnerved the tourists on the deck. The rope holding up the objects hanging from the mast gave away, and a dead body dropped down to the deck below, its entrails spreading among the now-panicked spectators. Someone then threw up. Now the whole ship was in an uproar, with the boat's patrons quickly moving around the ship to get off. The woman lifted her dress as she ran, her hat flying off her head and into the ocean. Her long brown hair shone in the sunlight, her eyes filled with fear and confusion. When the group got around the ship, they noticed that the plank that ran from the pier to the ship was lying in pieces in the water along with dead bodies. There were more corpses on the deck, indicating that whoever broke the entrance was now on the ship with them. They ran back around the ship looking for the life boats, but they were intercepted by a tall figure holding up a tourist. His hand was around the spectator's throat, and with a squeeze the wind pipe was crushed. Cassandra's Champion, The Ixian Killer, The New Gisela Reaper. Of the many names he went by, he knew himself to be Draug. He threw the body overboard, his eyes not even moving to the group of tourists that just encountered him.

There were more screams, and the woman now decided to do the only thing she could: Jump overboard. Most of the other tourists followed suit until the Homunculus was alone on the deck. A few of his weapons lay in skewered bodies, and as he retrieved them he felt no need to finish off the survivors. After he collected his equipment, he climbed up to the railing and jumped from the ship, landing hard on the wooden docks near the ship. The spectators that could swim changed direction from the docks, and now just tried to get as far away as possible. Draug ignored them as he walked toward Zack Blaze. The woman knew how to swim, kicking at the water with her head above the water. She swam as hard as she could, which was difficult in such attire, but she soon realized by the floating bodies and the now unmistakable metallic smell of blood why she was supposedly spared. She was surrounded by shark fins protruding out of the water. There was one final scream before the food-deprived sharks tore her apart.

"Now," said Draug, brandishing a steel longsword in each hand. "Nothing will get in our way."

[Ags]

Agnie's interest in the tournament waned significantly when a particular name dropped from the brackets after Round Two. After all, her main motivation in the first place was to face a certain someone, and such a thing was impossible at this point. To continue onto the third round should have been something to celebrate, a victory for Misery Business and her partnership with Zack, but ambivalence set in something fierce and proved difficult to shake.

Aurelius' actions still stung, not for her own sake, but for her wardrobe's. Losing a favorite dress to the ravages of competition had been enough casualties for the fey and she couldn't help but whether the Lornius Corporate Challenge was worth her time.

And when indifference set in, so did boredom, which was the most tragic development of all. Seized in a fit of ennui, she tossed a dramatic sigh in her partner's direction.

He ignored it. She'd done plenty of that since the results of the last round had been announced.

"Zaaack," she sighed, glancing up at him with fluttering, mismatched eyes under a delicately pinched brow. Her inhumanly gold curls framed her face nigh angelically, but the dip in the front of her nautical-themed dress had certainly been tailored by the devil himself.

The young man didn't betray his concern, but he knew that look. It meant she was antsy, and if nothing happened to earn her interest proper, she'd be inclined to do something very silly to make it so.

Screams interrupted their moment as Draug's handiwork drew attention, the cheering crowd swept into a frenzy as they tried to escape the ship. As flailing bodies flung themselves into shark-infested waters, the creature responsible for such an uproar leapt from the ship to the dock with a resounding thud, commanding the team's attention.

The clouds of red blossoming in the water nearby added a fresh touch of color to the sky's azure, reflected faithfully by the waves to paint the entirety of the seascape a cheery blue. Glimpses of bright clothing flashed against the polluted surface as spectators became supper.

It certainly was an ominous way to kick things off.

"How lucky," Agnie commented under her breath, just loud enough that Zack heard over the ruckus.

"Indeed," he smirked. It wouldn't be difficult to maintain their organization's brand if this was half of this League of Nightmares. Even in just meeting one of their opponents, it became clear that they certainly earned their team name. Misery Business most certainly looked to be the good guys in this situation, naught more than a pair of pretty youths at first glance.

"I don't like this one," the fairy added. Even without knowing how his body teemed with vicious weaponry, Draug's double-fisted longswords informed her that he was simply too pointy for the extent of her motivation.

[Ciato Orlouge]

Draug’s spectacular entrance stirred panic amongst the citizens who had made their way onto the pier to watch the fight. People who had come as spectators for the event now scrambled around like decapitated chickens at the thought of no longer being safe. The rioting screams and constant sounds of feet running every which way drowned out the single soul that had been slowly clapping at the entire event. To him, Draug’s work was a thing of beauty, a work of art that should have been appreciated rather than ran from. The fools that had gotten close enough to this admirer quickly met their end by the edge of his blade, fountains of blood spewing from necks, stomachs, whatever the tip of the sword could find.

Soon, Ciato Orlouge found himself to be the King of the Corpse Mountain.

His blades hue had changed from metallic silver to a dark crimson, the droplets that had once belonged inside the bodies of the dead now dripped upon their lifeless forms. His gaze looked at the two people that his team had been matched against. Misery Business seemed to be less about causing misery and more about trying to smell miserable. The smell of peaches and cake tickled at the Mystic’s senses, a fine aroma on its own that only tainted the fine scent of blood. His eyes shifted around to see that some men and women had not ran at the sight of the slaughter. They would make great recruits for the Cult of Blessed Torture.

“I suppose you still want a show,” Ciato sighed and pointed his weapon towards the on looking members of Misery Business, “well, if you’re brave enough to stay and watch after all that, I suppose I can appease your appetite for more death.” His hand moved quickly, slinging his blade and effectively throwing all of the blood off of his beloved Asterodeia. “Ciato Orlouge, Maestro of Malice, Tenor of Terror, Conductor of Chaos, at your service.”

Before he allowed his opponents to introduce themselves, he ran after the girl, the tip of his sword seeking to run straight through her well endowed chest.

[Zack Blaze]

Zack laughed as he looked at the two members that made up the League of Nightmares. Even as Ciato dashed towards his partner Zack casually tossed a small round stone to the Princess, who miraculously caught the object and used it, instantaneously popping out of harm’s way and back onto the trawler she had just visited. The stone was quickly tossed back to the street fighter, who grabbed the object with little effort. “It’s good to see you again Draug. Too bad it’s like this.”

Zack had worked with the self-proclaimed ‘New Gisela Reaper’ before, as both had helped Phoenix Ascendant stop the hostile Ixian Knights takeover of Corone. The fact that the bloodthirsty maniac did not initially recognize him came as no surprise to the youth; he had not been much of a warrior during the war, and died rather quickly on the field of battle. However, upon being revived, Zack had heard that the sadistic Draug, who many revered as quite powerful, had to resort to kidnapping teenage girls and attacking babysitters to try and win out the day. Anybody can be perceived as strong, if all they fight are weaklings…

Zack’s eyes shifted between both Draug and Ciato. While Draug had previously worked with the street fighter, Ciato was heard of only through his family lineage. Sei Orlouge and his ilk tended to caution on the side of righteousness and justice. Ciato Orlouge however seemed to be the black sheep of the Orlouge, having quite the panache for blood and making sure people lost lots of it. Zack watched as the Mystic began to approach his partner, sword still drawn and grumbling something inaudible as he made his way towards the girl.

She won’t last long, Zack thought, but she’ll give me the opportunity to see what Ciato can do, if I just keep an eye on him. His gaze waned from that fight and back to the monster at hand. He could hardly tell if the stench was coming from the sea, the corpses, or Draug himself. The odor made his nose hairs feel as if they were on fire. As Draug took his calculating and slow pace towards him, Zack slowly backed away, trying to keep some distance between them.

Something about physical contact with Draug made people sick. It was a hidden talent that few knew about, but due to Zack’s experience with the creature (and Draug being partially responsible for Zack’s death in the war), the youth held the advantage of knowledge over the self-mutilating mutation.

The back of his heel hit something, and Zack turned his head to see a barrel full of dead fish at his back. The salty smell of the dead seafood seemed to be a mass improvement from the other smells Draug and his partner were giving off. Zack grinned as the elemental powers in his fists disappeared, his hands grabbing at the scaly animals. Water still dripped off of the fish, a sign that they had just recently been caught and barreled. Zack laughed as he positioned himself behind the barrel, throwing the makeshift projectiles at his opponent. Droplets of water flew through the air and crashed on the ground as Zack attempted to exhaust the barrel’s supply of succulent seafood.

“You look a little famished, Draug. How about some protein?”

[Abomination]

Draug's knowledge of Zack was limited, but the Cult knew much about this attention-seeker. Phoenix Ascendant had allowed the Cult to do as they pleased, so most of the big names were being documented, studied, and analyzed. The street fighter's abilities were known to the Homunculus, and it was no secret to anyone who had heard of Draug that his strength was growing at an inhuman rate. It was no surprise that Zack would keep his distance.

A few bodies drifted into the pillars that supported the docks, the sharks having a field day in the waters. After spending time with Draug, Ciato was able to read him more clearly, and decided to put Draug in the optimal circumstances to succeed. One of the problems of the previous rounds was the involvement of outsiders, both times causing them to lose track of their opponents. This time, they made sure that nothing was in their way. Getting rid of the spectators and filling the bay with sharks was his idea. There was no escape for their prey this time.

The fish flew at Draug from his eccentric opponent, and Draug merely stood his ground and let them harmlessly smack into his body, his expression unchanged from the unorthodox attack. The only assault was on his senses, as the stench from the fish was strong enough to affect even his desensitized olfactory organs. After a dozen of them hit him, his clothes were stained with slimy residue.

"I'm not here to play, Zack." He swung his sword and cleaved the next fish that flew at him in two. "Unlike last time, there are no orders to spare your life." He dropped his swords, feeling that he wouldn't catch the street fighter with them.

He walked over to the side of the pier and put his hands on the wooden poles that rose up from the sea, his muscles expanding to double the size of his arms as he pulled. The wood cracked and splintered, the water splashing around the pole below, and with a heave he tore a large chunk of it out of the sea, the water spraying into the air. The pole was one foot thick and as tall as Draug himself. He grit his sharp teeth and spun around once to build momentum, and then he loosed the entire thing at Zack, having it fly in such a way that its length covered the entire walkway.

[Ags]

The safety obtained by Zack's quick thinking survived only a short moment. Ciato swiftly redirected his aim toward Agnie's new position on the boat, leaving his partner to deal with the youth on the dock.

The princess didn't feel particularly optimistic about this match. Somehow imagining herself disemboweled by Ciato was far less titillating than when Aurelius did the job. Her instincts kicked in and she made for the closest door, the small blue portal which led into the trawler's tiny cabin. She'd use the oldest trick in her book in an attempt to lose the fiend, something anyone who knew her wouldn't fall for in a second, but if she was lucky…

Ags scrambled for the handle, noticeably more clumsily than her usual sauntering pace as she tripped over buoys and fishing nets. The trawler swayed dramatically as her pursuer leapt from the dock to land on its deck, his feet meeting the wood with a thud that sent seagulls scattering to the sky. Water sloshed over one of the rails, washing over the white paint with the faint maroon tint of diluted blood, and reminded the fairy of the screams which still echoed over the port as sharks tore would-be spectators to pieces. She'd nearly forgotten them in her panic.

Panic was unusual for her, Ciato should have been proud. The fey quickly decided she wanted to go out only in spectacular fashion, if it had to be done, and somehow being stuck at the end of a sword seemed like it would be anticlimactic. She would only settle for a famously gruesome slaughtering befitting of an alien princess, something with explosions and fireworks and weeping men.

Thusly, it was time for a little cat and mouse.

The girl, along with a navy blue linen and white lace flurry of skirts, disappeared into darkness behind the cabin door, which she slammed tight behind her. If the man followed, he'd find himself somewhere far enough away that her organs and pride could remain intact.

With a bit of magic finesse, Ags stepped out onto the deck of the cruise ship, now empty save a few decorative corpses. She silently crept to the rail, keeping low to remain unnoticed, to spy on the trawler she just vacated. She was curious if Ciato fell for it. Meanwhile, Draug faced away from her position as he launched a massive javelin at Zack, and she had the best seat in the house to see her partner attempt avoiding being skewered like the fish he'd been throwing.

[Ciato Orlouge]

Those who remained kept silent as they watched the festivities of the fight progress. Ciato’s dashing attack had failed, and now, in his current, annoyed mood, had decided to pursue the girl further, falling into the game of cat and mouse that she was playing. Ciato grinned as he made deliberate paces onto the rocking boat, the waves caused by the sharks feeding frenzy swaying the sea vessel back and forth. “You think closing a door will stop me?”

He grabbed the metal handle of the door, pressing his thumb down ever so slowly on the button and pulling back. The inside of the trawler was quite humid, and very dark. He could clearly see the air in front of him as squiggly, illusion like lines. Whoever captains this thing, Ciato thought, must hate the sun but enjoy the heat.

“I know you’re here, poppet,” Ciato grinned as he closed door behind him. The very second he heard the clicking of the door; the darkness vanished, replaced by the scorching sun above and golden sands below. People walked around with heavy clothing, their bodies seemingly less prone to sweating than Ciato himself. His eyes darted around to the various architecture, listening to the heavy accents of those who spoke trade speak. One name kept sending alarms in the Mystic’s brain.

Jya.

Ciato’s eyes widened as the pieces started to fall into place. He turned around, grabbing the door that he had seconds ago entered from and slinging the object with all of his force. Instead of a pier full of ships, the nobleman was instead met with several people in thick clothing, several of them in a single file line in front of a counter, various trinkets in hand. Whatever the buxom and beautiful bitch had done to befuddle his mind, one thing was certain.

“I’m in Fallien….” Ciato sheathed his blade, his hands balling into fists and shaking. His heart felt as if it were in his throat, each thump of the organ sounding like a bass drum in his chest. He had allowed his pride to get the better of him, and had paid for it. There was only one thing the white haired heathen could do at this point.

He bent down, his hand sifting through the sandy ground until he grabbed something solid. Pulling it up from the burning grains below, Ciato found himself holding a bottle cap. He nodded to nobody in particular, looking at the door he had just slung open and throwing the miniscule object into it. There was a metallic clank, and the cap ricocheted and came at the Mystic ever faster. The bauble stopped an inch before making contact with Ciato, the very air around the sadistic Mystic shattering and fragmenting into dozens of glass shards.

“Kill that inelegant wench.” Ciato said, the crystalline shield rocketing through the air, its speed seemingly all the faster as if the glass considered the distance and Ciato’s rage. The battle could well be over by the time the Mystic Protection found its target. Ciato did not care; all he wanted now was to make sure the girl knew what being miserable was all about.

[Zack Blaze]

The second Zack saw the pillar flying his way; he did the first instinctual thing that came to mind. A smarter man would have probably ducked under the large projectile, a stylish man would have leapt over it, and a powerful man would have sent the pole flying back at Draug like some weird game of dock volleyball. Zack could have went with (or at the very least, attempted) any of these solutions to the problem.

Instead, the fighter chose to turn tail and dive into the water. Even as he saw the red swirls of blood grow closer to his face, Zack regretted his decision. He fell into the murky depths, his eyes attempted to scan the darkness until they settled on several large figures. Zack quickly swam back up to the surface of the dock, taking in a quick, deep breath, before slipping out of his jacket. He threw the clothing as far as possible away from himself, the weight of the wet leather only allowed for the jacket to land about fifteen feet away from him. It would have to be enough.

Zack brought his face into the water, his back exposed to the sun. He would have sighed if he could, his hands now balled into fists. The forms of the sharks came at him slowly, as f they wanted to gauge if their prey were still alive. He felt the snout of one of the beasts bump into his leg, sending his body spinning a bit. He smiled as a thought came into his mind. Ags had gotten rid of the other guy; he had seen the Mystic travel through the trawler door before Draug displayed his strength. This was now her battle, for now.

Another shark attempted to run into Zack, this time from the front. The boy reacted this time, and he grabbed the beast by the snout with both of his hands. Electricity surged through the body of the weighty behemoth, and the beast sank to the bottom of the seas in which it had once lived. Zack smiled through the water, his hands ready to grab any other fiendish fish that tried to frantically fight the boy.

Sharks don’t have swim bladders, Zack thought to himself, his mind had reflected back to the days of his schooling. That means they sink instead of float when they die. I can kill these things all day and Draug will be none the wiser. Zack smirked while he tilted his face out of the water ever so slightly, taking in another cautious breath.

Ags, Zack knew, could take care of the Draug, who was nowhere near as intelligent as either member of Misery Business. He was a grunt for the Cult of Blessed Torture, albeit their strongest grunt. If Ags got into trouble, Zack would come to her rescue. He was not completely heartless, after all. However, whatever the fairy princess could do to weaken Draug and lower his resources just meant that the demon would have less to combat Zack with later, if such an opportunity arose.

Zack was all about the fight most of the time, but a physical fight with Draug meant death, disease, and possible damnation. Zack smiled as another fish sank to its watery death. Perhaps after this was all over, he could treat Ags to some shark rolls…