Round One, Bracket B: Matheson Twins vs. Tvier Valka Seula

[Exspherius]

Even as the words left Epsilon's lips, the gunman brought his rifle instantly to bear. Epsilon was left staring directly down the barrel of the firearm as the stranger flicked the safety off with an audible click. At that point, Epsilon realized that he had made an error. Approaching so soon and so calmly after the disruption had been a mistake. Even if his opponent was not so edgy, anyone would cause suspicion by taking such an event in stride. Epsilon decided that his cover was now useless, especially in the light of the man's threats. He's unstable enough to shoot me whether I'm his opponent or not, Epsilon noted, so our plans for negotiation are moot. I'm sorry, Xaul. He began to gather his power for an attack, when the presence he had sensed before returned. The gunman swore, noticing Savannah's approach at the same time Epsilon mentally marked her position. Epsilon did not have time to do any more than that, because the gunman made a decision.

Epsilon had been monitoring the man's surface thoughts since his appearance. It was not on the level of his connection to Xaul, more akin to walking past a conversation rather than participating in one. You heard a few words, were able to make out the basic intentions, but got no real detail from it. Nevertheless, when the gunman decided that Epsilon's monk disguise needed to be a bit holier, it was enough of a warning to react in time. His power, already called to the surface in preparation, responded instantly to his will. Silver-blue energy flared out from the Esper, condensing into a three-inch-thick plane of force the size of a tower shield that placed itself directly between him and the gunman just as the rifle opened up.

Four gunshots rang through the plaza and Epsilon felt four impacts on his shield as the bullets shattered themselves on the solid energy. With each one came a pang of fatigue as a bit of his power was expended. As the gunman threw himself away from both himself and Savannah, Epsilon sidestepped to shadow him. The movement accomplished three things: it kept the shield between himself and the rifle, prevented Savannah from flanking him, and pincered the gunman between himself and Xaul, still hiding above.

Xaul wasn't hiding any longer, though. A scream of pure fury tore into Epsilon's ears, and he looked up to find Xaul airborne and already covered in the Kounnar's bloody sigils. The Esper's eyes widened and he immediately severed their mental connection even before his partner's warning could reach him. If I had been caught in his mind with Resheph... the Esper shuddered. The brief touch of the god's mind that he'd experienced during their initial meeting had been enough for Epsilon. Espilon leapt backwards as his partner hit the stones of the street in a roll and snapped out his hand. The monk's robe was ripped off his body, useless now that his power was revealed. Coercion flew from his belt and extended itself to its full length as the Esper dropped into his combat stance and prepared for his enemies' response.

[Lord Saladin]

The gunshots resounded, and Savannah flinched at each loud bang. What in the earth kind of weapon is that?! Never before had the young woman seen such a weapon, and as the crumbled bits of metal struck the air, she could not help but wonder exactly what those pieces were, or how she knew they were metal. A moment was taken to regain her composure... And then it really began.

The man who seemed to so favour loud noises moved, and the priest, removing his cloak, followed to keep almost in synchronisation. A roar erupted from where the third man had been positioned, and Savannah saw him launch his body towards the ground of the bazaar. Quite a few of the stalls had been toppled in the stampede of peasants wanting to escape the frightening noises of the previous few minutes, but Savannah still needed to weave through them nimbly in order to approach the now descending fellow with anything that would be useful in the battle.

The light burst forth from him and Savannah averted eyes slightly, keeping the man's position within her peripheral vision. She felt, as closer she got, that a great weight was bearing down upon her; an evil presence that carried nothing but malice. The words hissed instilled fear and slight apprehension, yet she was driven on by the promise of a wish. Damn that boy! Damn his inept soul! Sebastian was still nowhere, and it seemed like the battle was more of a free-for-all than what had been promised. The time for planning was over, and Savannah had to take action.

Only a second after the man landed, the light still glowing from his body, Savannah would lunge forwards with her broadsword, hoping to make some kind of strike against this man who emitted so heavy a sensation of evil, it made her a little shaky. The thrust was perhaps the least powerful, least technically correct attack she had made in years. Shaking her head, Savannah cursed herself. You're fighting like that useless child you call a brother. Snap out of it.

She had left herself open by performing such a manoeuvre, she was acutely aware of her current situation, but one could not turn back time. It was the annoyance of her brother's absence, the surprise format of this fight, and the fact that three potential enemies were in this arena, when she was expecting two enemies to balance the partnership of twins. Her mistake, she knew, sealed her fate, and even in that instant of the thrust, she wondered if the end would be now, or if a second chance would be given.

[Miehm]

Tactical vest. It was the only solution that presented itself to me. He was wearing a vest good enough to take four shots from a hunting round. That was fine with me, it was probably trashed by now.

I ripped off another magazine, four rounds blasting into the vicinity of the man's torso again. I hoped no one noticed that when I dropped the bolt back into position this time before removing the magazine, I slipped a round into the chamber, leaving the gun loaded. The empty magazine dropped free, and I slammed another one in, anticipating my opponent would at least have been injured by the repeated shots.

The scream alerted me to my enemy's approach, and I tucked and rolled to the left, away from where he would land, feeling a net swish down behind me and catch my trailing foot as I slipped out from under the second attack. It didn't seem to matter though, the woman had already charged towards us, and was lunging towards my ambusher with her sword. She was obviously my partner, and I approved of her actions in a distant way. In absence of orders, attack. That's what everyone I knew in the military had told me, that's what I tried to do, and that was what my partner was doing even now. I tried not to consider what exactly happened if your enemy attacked too.

[TwinDeath]

As Xaul landed on the earth, his roll carried him forward into the space where Miehm had been a second ago. Savannah’s sword scraped across his back as she lunged, the blade etching a crimson line into his dusky skin as it sliced through his coat and the several shirts underneath. Xaul let out a slight gasp, the hiss of pain transforming into yet more maniacal laughter. “The soft kiss, sweet agony! Oh, that the burning entropy might come, too soon, yet late!” As he came out of his roll to his feet, Xaul turned and bowed deeply to Savannah. “Release me, amazon!” His voice was almost normal, almost pleading, if one ignored the constant sniggering. It quickly changed, however, becoming a sound that held no humanity at all. “Release me to the void, not my time!” He began to march slowly towards Savannah, his stance so hunched and animalistic that his katars scraped the ground, the tip of Haingre leaving a trailing stain as it passed over the sandy stone.

Xaul’s weapons were coming into their full power now, as evidenced by the stain left by Haingre. The air began to fill with noxious fumes that emanated from the sinuous blade, and several shoppers who had crept back into the square cried out as they felt the aches and pains accumulated through their lifetimes slowly begin to return. Drshil’s awful power had begun its work. Xaul giggled madly as he witnessed the handiwork of his weapons, his voice an awful parody of a child’s sing-song. “Old gods slaughtered and gone away, mine is forever here to stay! New gods coming, you all cry ‘save us now!’, but not even they can determine how…” Raising Drshil to his cheek, Xaul pulled the jagged tip along an old scar, reopening the wound and shuddering as blood oozed from his flesh. “Reason was castrated long ago, and beings watch from behind opaque mirrors. They wait, they watch, and occasionally, they interfere.” Xaul shook with madness as he coiled his legs underneath himself, readying for a leap. “My fate was gambled away, so many eons in the future. Yours was sealed when you met me.”

Springing forward, Xaul propelled himself straight at Savannah, his katars slashing in a deadly X pattern that was followed with a double thrust to the woman’s chest. Hissing laughter constantly escaped from Xaul’s mouth, the grating sibilants echoing oddly off the hard adobe walls. In the back of his mind, the sane Xaul tried in vain to convince his other self to use the stalls and tents to their advantage, but he was ignored. Xaul in full Kounnar was little more than a suicidal berserker with no strategy whatsoever, flinging himself at an opponent until they died, or he did.

[Exspherius]

Epsilon, finding no resistance to his superficial contact, deepened the mental connection in time to hear Miehm's reaction to his failed fusillade. A tactical vest? He must be extremely unfamiliar with the wider universe, to assume something so mundane. Or to think that he could damage me with such a weapon.Epsilon found it amusing that the man did not even consider the possibility that his bullets were stopped by nonphysical means. He was not amused for very long, however, because Miehm chose that moment to open fire again. Another four sharp cracks echoed off the yellowed walls of the courtyard, and Epsilon was very thankful that his shield was still in place. Keeping it there, though, was going to be a different issue. Each time the shield took a hit, it required a bit more energy to maintain. Taking four bullets, even from a mundane rifle, was beginning to make it a drain on his strength. Epsilon knew that it would not likely survive this current barrage.

One. The first bullet smashed into the shield, destroying itself and sending rippling concentric rings across the surface of the manifestation as its impact was dissipated. Epsilon bent slightly at the knees, preparing to throw himself away.

Two. Again, the bullet was stopped. The feedback was more serious this time, and the slug penetrated slightly into the shield before being halted by the Esper's power. Epsilon knew that the shield would not hold, and made his move. Coercion retracted itself and the Esper began his leap.

Three. This was the last bullet that the shield would stop. Epsilon could feel it as the slug struck the plane of force, and as he tried and failed to reinforce it a thin trickle of blood wormed its way down from his left ear. He was airborne now, Coercion's hilt grasped tightly as he moved. But he moved too slowly.

Four. The shield broke. Only slowed by the dissipating shield of psionic energy, the bullet streaked across the intervening space to strike the Esper in the side. With a grunt, the Esper was knocked sideways by the impact of the slug on the crystal-alloy plating over his short ribs. The armor, though not rated for projectiles, held. Slowed by the semisolid energy of the shield, it no longer carried lethal force. Though that doesn't make it hurt much less, the Esper thought bitterly. He felt like he'd been hit by a sledgehammer.

Still, he had to recover while Miehm was reloading. The Esper hit the ground in a twisted roll, coming up with Coercion back on his belt and Sentinel in his right hand. If he employs ranged weaponry so freely, I will respond in kind. Epsilon was, in truth, not much of a close-range fighter himself. That was where Xaul excelled, as his partner was proving from where he engaged Savannah. Engaged being a relative term; Xaul did not engage enemies so much as drowned them in a sea of deadly attacks. In that manner, the Esper mused, his partner was like one of the backpack nukes sometimes employed by ultrasaboteurs in his own universe. Get it in position, set it off, then run like hell and hope you didn't get caught in the fallout. Epsilon set his jaw in a tight smirk as he made a quick step behind a large stack of crates that had been knocked haphazardly into the streets in the previous chaos.

I'll have to finish with him quickly, Epsilon thought, Xaul is going in too deep to stop once Savannah is defeated, and I'm the only one here who can bring him back again. It was at that moment that Xaul drew his katars. Instantly, he felt himself gripped by the demonic powers of his ally's weapons. Up and down his entire body, tiny pinpricks of fire sprouted into being. Remnants of the hundreds of injections and monitoring equipment from the facility, the first things effected by Drshil were of course the most minor. He was able to block this minor pain through a simple mental technique, but the Esper worried how he would fare once Resheph came more fully awake. Thankfully, his mask blocked much of the vile smell spreading in waves from Haingre.

With those thoughts in mind, he brought the black-and-chrome handgun to bear on the rifleman opposite him. He steadied the pistol with his mind, using telekinesis to offset the bulk of the weapon. With the sights centered on Miehm's torso, Epsilon squeezed the trigger and unleashed a vicious beam of blazing energy.

[Lord Saladin]

With the lunged attack striking the other, slicing his back, Savannah was able to regain some element of composure. Taking a few steps back, the young serf watched as the man turned to her, his voice speaking in a manner that caused some disconcert within Savannah. It seemed to her that this fellow, her opponent, was mad; as though his mind was broken.

Then the weapons were drawn... Savannah had seen similar weapons in the past, favoured by assassins in her own world, well known for being deadly swift and fatally accurate, she eyed the two blades cautiously. Ugh! Pain sifted through the slim body of the woman, and at various points, places she knew held scars, fluid crawled down her body. Blood from old battle wounds seeped into her clothes, staining the basic attire. How do I stand against such awesome power? She winced, vision blurring from the pain of battles long since won.

"I... I don't understand." She forced the words from her mouth as she fell to her knees, the pain consuming her as the enemy made his approach. He looked like an animal, the blades of his weapons stroking the ground with their evil. Surely they were evil, no other explanation fitted in Savannah's mind as she tried to fathom what was happening in this truly surreal fight. None of it made any sense to her, except that Sebastian was not here - he likely knew of what would happen somehow, and opted for the safe choice.

Savannah, however, would not back from this battle, and seeing the maniacal man, hearing his words, she doubt she even could. Though, time for idle pondering had ceased, the opponent was making his attack. Hands that had been resting upon the cobblestone of the ground raised a moment, Savannah barely even realising the broadsword was no longer in her grasp. She leaped to the side, with all the strength she could muster, to evade the crossing slash aimed at her.

Landing on her side, clumsily, she suddenly became dizzy. It was as though her head was spinning, weightless, yet her body seemed like it was being forced downwards, as though her muscles were lead. Black spots that swiftly evolved into meandering blobs in front of her vision drifted past, and she began to panic as her breathing became harder.

The blobs were not some tangible thing, but was a result of some hidden power that was only now beginning to manifest itself. Perhaps it was a result of being brought to this strange place, or the fear this man instilled, or the threat of imminent death. However, as the double handed thrust was sent towards Savannah, a stall at her right toppled over, threatening to trap the man underneath. The light pine of the rickety structure wouldn't cause any damage, but may hinder the man enough for Savannah to find an advantage before she bled to death.

Truth be told, however, she couldn't find the energy or the strength to move. It seemed as though she would get her wish regardless. Yet, in the back of her mind, past the blurred thoughts and confusion, she cursed Sebastian for continuing to live.

[TwinDeath]

For the judges: Here is a link to the OOC. We await our scores.

[Christoph]

Thank you for participating! Ataraxis will judge this battle shortly. Please do not contact your judge regarding the judgment until after it has been posted.

[Taskmienster]

I’m stealing this one as well! I’m a thief today… hah. Anyway, I’ll be adding limited commentary, and putting both of your scores in the same rubric, with individual and then averaged scores. Any comments can be PM’ed to me.

Matheson Twins

[Lord Saladin] | [Miehm]
((Commentary))

STORY

~ Continuity ~ [3] | [1.5]
~ Setting ~ [5] | [5.5]
~ Pacing ~ [7] | [7]

CHARACTER

~ Dialogue ~ [4] | [5]
~ Action~ [6.5] | [8]
~ Persona ~ [5] | [5]

WRITING STYLE

~ Technique ~ [4.5] | [4.5]
((Saladin, some of your sentences are quite long winded, and seem rather blunt at times to get to the point. You can use some advanced techniques, even a small metaphor or simile, alongside splitting up those sentences to make it flow better and more interestingly.))
~ Mechanics ~ [8.5] | [8]
~ Clarity ~ [8] | [7.5]
WILD CARD!!! [3] | [2.5]

Total: [54] | [54.5] | [54.25]

Tvier Valka Seula

[Twin Death] | [Exspherius]
((Commentary))

STORY

~ Continuity ~ [2.5] | [2]
((Who the hell is Resheph? Lol. I read over the opening twice and was a little lost both times. Feel free to explain that a little bit better and clearer in the future, so that the reader can get a better picture. Also, in the 10th post you have a lot of unexplained words that are confusing and undoubtedly part of your character’s background.))
~ Setting ~ [6] | [6.5]
~ Pacing ~ [6] | [7]


CHARACTER

~ Dialogue ~ [6] | [5.5]
((It’s hard to follow dialogue when it’s in the middle of paragraphs, especially split up and interspersed. Normally it’s best to make a new paragraph for it, even if the previous and new ones are short.))
~ Action~ [7.5] | [8]
~ Persona ~ [6] | [7]

WRITING STYLE

~ Technique ~ [5] | [5]
~ Mechanics ~ [8.5] | [8]
((One spelling mistake))
~ Clarity ~ [9] | [8]
WILD CARD!!! [3] | [3]

Total: [58.5] | [60.5] | [59.5]

Tvier Valka Seula Advances to round 2!

GAINS/REWARDS!

TwinDeath and Exspherius gain 1878 exp; 200 gold; 2 fate points for advancing

Lord Saladin and Miehm gain 525 exp; 100 gold; no fate points

[Taskmienster]

Exp and GP added!