NLBFT 12: The First Round Beckons

[Apiary Tazy]

"hmmmmm" Nichi only stood there as the Dragonfire crept closer and closer to his body.

"Strength.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Suddenly the Dragonfire hit his body. It left a horrid scar on the planet as it howled through space.

Suddenly Nichi's Voice followed the flame to Inferno's ears.

"It doesn't matter how strong an aura is....what matters is HOW YOU USE IT!"

Suddenly the fire bursts away from Nichi's body, his wings fully extended, showing that they can wrap around his body twice over, taking all of the damage, and leaving unslightly marks on them.

"Yeah......Dragons.....sisn't Earth Men kill alot of them with no Martial Arts or barely any Ki or Magic in the Dark Ages? Thought so." Says Nichi insultly.

Inferno flew into Nichi's Wings, attempting to snap his neck, but those same wings keep him back.

"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME!" Yells Inferno.

"OOOOOOO! Did I touch a nerve?" says Nichi. "Your aura is quite unsightly.....LET'S KILL IT."

Nichi moved forward at high speed, and with Inferno still in the wings, he was stuck for the ride. The Wings and Inferno crash into the Magma Dragon, taking off a good chunk of the Dragon's jaw, and possibly harming Inferno more than a little.

It felt like they were there for a good hour, when in truth, it was probably just a minute they were stuck in these positions.

[Inferno Dragon]

OOC: your character just pissed inferno off while he was in super saiyan 2 form, not a wise thing to do.

Nichi flew back and landed away from Inferno, giving a smug look to the prince. Inferno fixed his aura's jaw by snapping it back into place and stroked its neck.

Inferno: there there, you'll be okay.

Nichi: HA! you actually care for your aura? HAHAHAHA! please, an aura is nothing more than a tool to use. it doesn't have feelings, and yours is an abomination! humans slaughterd millions like it on earth in the middle ages, and this one's no different from those mindless beasts!

Inferno glared at Nichi, hatred filled his super saiyan eyes as he listened to Nichi's little speach. When Nichi finished Inferno growled deeply, his dragon blood began to boil with anger and hatred.

Inferno: You bastard! You're no different from those slayers that killed my beloved Flair!

Nichi: she fell just as easily as the dragons of earth didn't she, heh, your kind is pathetic!

Inferno's battle aura vanished knowing what was about to come. Inferno continued to glare at nichi as his golden spiked hair grew to the length of his dragonic tail. his eyebrows vanished and were replaced by a boney structure above his eyes. An intense look crossed his face as his muscle structure increased three fold. Inferno slowly approached Nichi, and with every step the ground trembled beneath his footfalls, leaving craters behind with each step.

Nichi: what did I just say, power isn't everything!

Nichi rushed at the level three super saiyan ready to catch him in his wings again but inferno disappeared again, reappearing right behind nichi and grabbed ahold of his aura's wings.

Nichi: what the hell?!

Inferno forced nichi into the ground with his foot and with little effort ripped the wings from Nichi's aura one by one. Nichi's aura screamed out in pain as its wings were being ripped away from it, begging for its master to help. after ripping the last wing from nichis b.a., Inferno incinerated the wings so there was no chance to repair the damaged aura. Inferno then lifted Nichi by the back of his neck and stood him up before delivering a punch to his gut. the force of the punch was so great that what remained of any armor on Nichi's body shattered into a million shards and knoched the wind out of nichi while sending him flying several miles away. Inferno simply stood silent and waited for his foe to return to him.

[KirbyBoy2000]

Papelbon continued his stride after Hugo, looking for his slippery opponent in the darkness as best he could with his one good eye. He increased his pace as he heard a distinct sound in the distance; the whirring of an old platform elevator, it occasionally stopping every few seconds, still yet unaccustomed to its job after so many years without use. As the elevator stopped with a thud as it reached the second level of the warehouse, Papelbon scanned the walkways of the next floor. There was no movement above him, however behind him was a different answer.

Hugo looked at his assailant from a top a small pile of wooden crates. That giant was distracted from his diversion, just what he was hoping for. He started his attack on Papelbon, pushing a heavy crate with all of his might off of the pile and towards his opponent’s head. If not for the scraping sound of the wooden crates it might have connected with something other than Papelbon’s oversized arms. Hugo leaped to the ground after it, running toward Papelbon and delivering a punch to his side with as much strength as he could gather in his arms.

The crate fell to the ground and Papelbon growled, weary of his prey’s annoyances and tricks. He swung his bruised right arm out in an arc, catching Hugo’s face with the side of his forearm. Hugo reeled backwards, disoriented, but quickly managing to regain his composure.

“Boy…” Papelbon growled, rage evident in his voice. “I’m going to make y’ wish you were never born.”

He leaned down towards the crate from off the ground that had hit him moments before and hoisted it over his head; using both of his arms to throw it through the air at Hugo. It crashed to the ground, about a foot away from where its target moved to. The crate shattered as it hit the ground, its contents spilling out onto the ground. Hugo looked down at the wrecked crate. Nothing of use there…

He lifted his head up. His assailant was running towards him yet again, rage in his eyes and his fists clenched. His run was much faster than it previously was. There was no time left for Hugo to try and escape. Only enough time to raise his arms in a futile attempt to block as Papelbon’s massive arm thrusts itself full force at Hugo’s chest.

[Apiary Tazy]

"....bad move......." says Nichi as he pulls himself up.

"Bad move?!" Inferno says to the injured Nichi "You lose. you are defenseless against m-"

"Of all the boneheaded move you could have pulled, you decide to force the removal of my aura......hahahahahaha.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Nich extended his arms, then ran at Inferno. But before he reached Inferno he stopped, and floated into the air like a balloon would.

"My aura PUNISHES being too forceful....and you're going to get a taste of it." says Nichi.

Inferno attempted to attack Nichi, but he couldn't move. Why he couldn't move was a mystery, but he was soon to find out.

"Can't move, eh? I guess sense your a Dragon AND a Sayin, you probably never need to use your brain." Says Nichi"...so, I'll explain. My wings freeze your aura....and if your aura has more power than your body, you are unable to move..... Only 2 other people have seen the attack I am about to show you....Now, DIE!!!!"

Suddenly another 6 Wings appear from Nichi's body, except they are smaller and have a much darker glow.

"......Let me be the blesser of all souls!"

A devestating Rainbow colored aura explodes in all directions, and hits Inferno head on.

Inferno felt like his soul has being ripped out of his body and every organ was being squeezed to the point of bursting, yet kept from doing so in order to keep Inferno in eternal pain. He was almost like someone was killing him, yet keeping him alive for the sport of it. Or, maybe, it was because of Inferno's train of thought that made him think this way. Maybe Nichi had been messing with him up to this point. Maybe this was a last resort kind of thing. Not even Nichi himself fully knows the full extent of this technique, but what would you need to know?

Suddenly, Inferno feels like he was grabbed and lifted into the air, the pain continuing on. Suddenly he hears Nichi speak, though to Inferno, it was all of the Gods and Devils coming together to say it.

"GRAND......MAW!"

The pain intensified, then stopped. Then Inferno looked up to noticed that not only was he hoisted into the air by Nichi, but a horrifying sight came to show himself. A large man, wearing the same black suit, but with a General's look to him stared at the fight between.

"Son.....what are you doing?" said the man.

"I'm training." Said Nichi. "And I am about to finish him."

"That is not training....that is killing....unpravoked even....shame." Says the large man " Who are you fighting anyway?.....Inferno....Ruler of a Nation of Nothingness... How far have the Dragons fallen from thier high place. To think....one band or Dragon Hunters brought them all down in less than a day." Says the large man, who starts to laugh at both fighters.

"shut.....up....." says Inferno.

" Don't talk to my father that way!" says Nichi.

"I.....said.....SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" yells Inferno as he regain his strength, elbowing Nichi in the face, then running full force at the General who was Nichi's Father.

Inferno flew through him.....but only saw smoke, and not blood....

"....Did you think that Nichi's attack was over? No.....it was still going on...." says the large man. "I don't approve of Nichi's hardheadedness, but I can do nothing but help him......it's no offense."


".....GRAND MAW OPEN!"

Suddenly black and white converge, and the whole planet become a Beige color. Then the Solar System Explodes and the stars fall on Inferno continuously, yelling things like "Kill", "FELL THE FIYA! FIYA! FIYAAAAA!" and "MY SPOON IS TOO BIG!"

Inferno would need alot of strength to survive the attack of Nichi's Father, as well as Nichi himself.

[X-3]

The Lighting Bear roared in pain, as Bobby frantically laughed his ass off. The two's noises seemed to combine into a beautiful symphony: that is, beautiful to those who are insane. Bobby's laughter got a solo, when the Bear ceased his roaring to smell his dismembered ear. A few short seconds later, and the ear had been digested.

A very familiar yellow glow reappeared in the Bear's disgusting, blood-coated fur. The Boar stomped its paw into the ground, and the shiny, golden color once again vanished, as electricity shot into the ground, towards the laughing Bobby. The electricity shot into him, and he shrieked in pain, as his body twitched uncontrollably.

Bobby's solo ceased, and the insane symphony ended.

[Wyborn]

There was a long moment as the man staggered back, his face wrenched out of place and his blood dribbling down the side of his mouth, where it was doubtful that he would fully recover. His jaw hung loose, wrenched free of its anchoring to his face, and as he danced backwards the city roared and screamed. He looked at Acradius, then, the neon lights of his eyes flaring as he reached up with both hands and shoved his own jaw back into place. He tested it experimentally, and then smiled.

“'In the tradition of this fine city?' Son, I think you misunderstand.”

He reached into somewhere and pulled out two items – the first: a long cigar; the second: a golden Zippo lighter embossed with an ostentatious, blocky “V”. Calmly, never minding the approach of the man who had assaulted him, he bit off the tip of the cigar's butt end, spitting it onto the street before putting the cigar between his teeth, flicking on the lighter. A few puffs and it caught, and he tossed the lighter idly by – several hundred dollars swept away into the city's sewer system. He grinned, and when he exhaled through his nose the smoke was green like the light coming out of his mouth.

His voice was smooth, and every crooner who had ever made it his mission to seduce a woman was embodied in his next words.

“I am Las Vegas.”

Acradius flinched at the statement, realizing in the breadth of a heartbeat that he was not up against a man, in any sense, and it was when shock touched his face that the Spirit of Las Vegas smiled and blew.

Smoke poured from his mouth like a fog, flowing over the street in a wave, so thick it was impossible to see through, impossible to breathe in, and Acradius staggered and choked – it would only take him a second to see through this, but in that second he had to orient himself, he had t-

Acradius felt a pin-prick at his neck, and wheeled and struck, his fist connecting with the Spirit but not solidly, glancing off of what felt like a shoulder. He could hear the man-thing laughing as it skipped backwards.

The sound of a jet engine roaring filled Acradius' ears, though there was no jet, and wind that should have only come from an engine (wind that nearly blasted him off of his feet, by all accounts should have, but the Time Warrior could stand for whatever reason) swept the smoke away from the street. The Spirit of Las Vegas stood before Acradius, ten paces away, his grin as wide as the world, the cigar glowing like a third eye, waving wildly as he talked around it.

“Can't take much of that stuff. Nobody can.” He pulled something out from his vest – his eyes windswept, it took Acradius a moment to realize it was a .50 calibre Desert Eagle, plated in platinum.

“What?”

“Heroin,” the Spirit said, his hat shading the neon glow of his eyes and that sick green smoke pouring out of his nose and mouth. “Pure as mother's milk. You have about a quarter of a second before it hits your brain.”

Then it did, and Acradius understood what euphoria meant.

“Whoops. Guess I shoulda warned you sooner! Well, nothing for it now. Welcome to my world, kid.” He admired the gun in his hand for a moment before leveling it at Acradius' face. “Ashes to ashes, funk to funky – we know Major Tom's a junkie.”

The gun went off with a roar that drowned out the world.

[Phenom]

If Felix Papelbon was considered “irked” at the point where he lost the services of his eye courtesy of the heirloom he had set out to retrieve, the prolonged game of cat and mouse combined with his near meeting with mortality from a crate from above had him simply irate. As Hugo braced himself for the inevitable bone crushing impact of a charging Papelbon, the wounded mastodon of a man had more long term designed that running over his newfound nemesis; he was going to take him for a ride.

With Hugo’s outstretched extremities predictably fruitless in warding off the quarter-ton mass of humanity barreling towards him, Hugo lowered his shoulder at the last possible moment before their bodies collided, plunging so heinously into Hugo’s midsection that the high-speed impact sent blood shooting from the instantly decimated inside of his diaphragm and out his mouth as air once again became a scarcity in his body. However, to his dismay, Hugo did not find himself sprawled instantaneously on the cold cement floor as he had been accustomed to throughout the entire encounter. Instead, when his vision rejoined his body following the savage tackle, he found himself snared in the vice-like bear hug of Papelbon’s mountainous arms, still hurdling forth at what seemed like warp speeds. Struggling was useless in his mammoth-sized adversary’s embrace, so Hugo tried his luck with a series of desperate head butts. Each sickening thud of skull on skull sent a searing, brain numbing pain through Hugo’s comparatively small cranium, but the damage on Hugo was negligible. Before Hugo could fathom another method of counteraction or ponder what in fact Papelbon was attempting, both answers became abundantly clear as the world went black.

Few people know the sound of an unstoppable force rampaging clean through a wall made of cast iron, but as the runaway vehicle that was Felix Papelbon speared Hugo Burnell through the side of the second story, blistering through metal and then an unforgiving section of cement, that previously unknown sound reverberated within both combatants heads for what seemed like an eternity. For what must have been nearly a full two-count of being driven spine-first through steel and concrete, the crippling nightmare ended in a cloud of scrap metal and cement-dust, as the warehouse warriors careened out the other side. The sudden lack of resistance that the wall had provided sent Papelbon sprawling forward, in the process releasing a severely battered Hugo from his boa constrictor-like hold. Papelbon, still driving forward from his inhuman amount of momentum, yelled in surprise as he crashed headfirst into a pile of steel drum barrels, puncturing several with his massive frame before coming to a final rest. Hugo was left sprawled on his back near the gaping hole from which he had been plowed through, the pain that had taken residence in every spare inch of his anatomy so overwhelming that he was in a state of complete physical shock. The last things that occurred to him before losing consciousness was the warm sensation of his own blood pouring from his multiple lacerations and cooling on the floor, and the unmistakable smell of gasoline.

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Papelbon awoke from his involuntary catnap in with the hazy vision and throbbing pain in his skull that he could only compare to the first morning after a weeklong love affair with straight bourbon whiskey and a kilo of cocaine. The blood that had crusted over from his orbital bone gash had been emphatically replaced by a new river flowing from his forehead and nose, cascading down his neck and resting in a supersaturated mass on his tattered -- and now ironically named -- dress shirt.

Lying on what remained of a dozen large steel drums; Papelbon nearly passed out once again as the pungent and intoxicating aroma of freshly spilled gallons of gasoline had drenched his entire body as well as seeped throughout the entire dimly lit room. Surveying his new surroundings for the first time, Papelbon found himself in the small confines of what appeared to be a hastily abandoned storage room. With only a small window placed high up on the wall opposite him, Papelbon could only make out his surroundings by the meager offerings of moonlight. Instinctively, Papelbon reached for the lighter in the breast pocket of his vest before quickly realizing his near fatal error.

“One little flame and th’ whole joint goes up in a towerin’ inferno.”

Though he had almost certainly shattered his right collar bone and been dealt a serious concussion, Papelbon attempted to rise to his feet and search the area for what he expected to be a fatally wounded if not dead Hugo Burnell. However, while he was able to begin his ascent to an upright position, Papelbon was taken by surprise by the force holding down his left arm. To his utter bewilderment, his impromptu crash landing had sent his left arm elbow-deep into the side of one of the steel drums. Bending over and holding his left arm painfully steady with the mass of carnage that was once his right arm, Papelbon tried to remove his left fist with all his might, but the hand was so firmly entrenched within the drum that pulling it out was not an option in his state of annihilation. In disbelief at his misfortune, Papelbon grunted in immense discomfort as he curled his left arm upright, steel drum intact. If he was to finish the job, he would have to do so with his left side transmogrified into an unorthodox sledgehammer.

Then he heard a sound that made his eyes grow to the size of dinner plates. The labored but steady breathing of what had to be the ever-resilient Hugo Burnell. The sound of his counterpart’s vitality caused the last strings of mercy and sanity to snap in Papelbon’s mind. The hate-filled adrenaline that immediately began to course through the ogre’s body alleviated Papelbon of a great deal of pain if not the irreversible physical damage he had been dealt. Lumbering across the room to the vague origin of Hugo’s breathing, Papelbon gritted his teeth like a wolf readying himself mentally to go for his prey’s jugular.

He seethed like a man on the brink of a heart attack, the hate that boiled within him so profound that he could see that room in an entire different way. He sensed Hugo’s energy, he felt the man’s faint but steady heartbeat. Raising his steel drum-clad arm high above his head, he closed in on the silhouette ten feet in front of him. Hugo had miraculously risen to his feet, and though a feeling of respect for the brown-jacketed pest’s durability and resolve shot through Papelbon for a brief moment, the battered giant knew that here was to be the final resting place of one of them.

Dizzy from the euphoria of battle and the fumes of gasoline that caused each step he took to be accompanied by the splash of liquid, Papelbon flared the nostrils of his massacred nose, ready to usher the final blow to Hugo and regain the priceless spoils he had gone through hell for.

[Galefore]

OoC: This will be the last post I make this round, it seems. I will be gone tomorrow, and have no computer Saturday and Sunday. Someone else will have to call time. Sorry, guys.

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Pain. Pain of the most piquant nature to the beast’s curiosity. As it roared for a moment, it also noted that it was losing a bit of its sense of smell. Odd… Why would it no longer be able to pick up a scent simply by Kyen jamming the hole in its back with his sparkling stick? Perhaps it was its sensitivity to the fog… Maybe the little creature it was trying to eat had used some form of magic, like the magic the tall man had used on it to make it hungry… No, this was the stick’s doing. Reaching back, it tore the stick from its oddly-placed nostril, hearing a viscous fluid mixed with blood slide most disgustingly from its back. The hideous beast moaned a bit before staring defiantly at the staff and casting it hastily into a nearby ally. And, as if he were a child reading his first word, revelation hit the monster; the partial loss of scent was now gone! Gingal grinned and made a noise akin to a chuckle, and then stopped, lending all energy to his brain. As it made its sad attempt at “thinking”, it failed to remember its opponent, the feeble mind couched in its skull fixed on this new discovery: disabling a sensory organ removes the ability to use it. Excited, Gingal turned on its heel and ran down the ally yet again.

And then it remembered its opponent. Letting out a snarl of renewed determination, and feeling its voracious hunger return, Gingal began letting its arms do all of the work for it. Glancing around with emotionless eyes, it clawed through several windows, and began reaching through the thin sheetrock to capture the lizard. High upon the roofs, the Lizardman observed Gingal’s destructive rampage… But failed to even realize that the beast’s nondescript eyes had already seen him carefully peeking over the edges. As he turned to walk away, a clawed hand swiped him up…

…And with a thunderous crack, brought him down. Dust mingled with fog as Gingal screeched in pleasure, lifting the lizard high in the air and down again, in the air, and down again, and again, and again, and again.

Lifting the creature to its grinning face, Gingal once again froze, its death grip locked in place. As Kyen struggled to find relief from the bone pummeling hands that held him, Gingal remembered is earlier discoveries. Returning to the feral thoughts of combat, it lifted one of its four arms and swiped a clawed hand’s jagged, unkempt and unwashed nails into the lizard’s face. It was going to remove this creatures ability to see.

A roar, meeting a similar one.

Gingal watched as Kyen lifted his remaining hand to his face, examining the damage. His eyes, Of which only three were left, one left hanging from the socket, were blurry. His face was missing a fair amount of skin, the draught of life dripping slowly from the fleshy areas uncovered by scales. And as he frantically worried for his now ruined face, he failed to even notice Gingal once again slowly pulling him towards that den of knives it used as a mouth.

Closer.

Kyen struggled a bit more, still a bit dazed from the recent slap he had received, and didn’t even see the monster’s forth arm joyously dance around the Zone Eater’s body to punch the good side of the magic-wielding Lizard’s face. This time, the closed fist failed to do much else other than bruise and add to the massive headache the Lizard was already reluctantly experiencing from the previous set of beatings. He didn’t even check his face for damage this time, as he continued concentrating on escaping this death-grip.

Closer still.

Gingal glared hard, his eyes twisting in his head. Such delicious victory, or at least he thought so.

And ever closer.

Gingal felt as if everything was won. But was it? He certainly couldn’t have cared less.

[KirbyBoy2000]

OoC: This will be my last post as well I suppose, mostly because I don't like to go over the limits I place on my characters, and I've already been pushing that for a good part of this battle. If this sort of thing counts as giving up then so be it, I'd doubt I would be going on to the next round anyway. Phenom, its been a good match.



Hugo was standing once more to his feet, almost as though it were an instinct at this point. It must be, considering his body was left in shambles and his mind still having trouble piecing together what had happened to him. His back felt practically shattered from his trip through the wall, and his jacket could barely be called that anymore, with its thin ribbons of cloth being the only thing holding together his now red clothes. There was blood pouring from what seemed like all parts of his body, and what wasn’t gushing out of him was pooling into his lungs.

He let out a loud cough, blood spraying outward along with the sound. He almost immediately regretted it, a sharp pain in his chest from one of his broken ribs poking at his already hindered lungs. He tried to regain his focus, staggering in place as he tried to look ahead with his red hazed eyes. He could barely look ahead a couple feet, his eyes no use to any dangers approaching him. His ears worked still, as did his body; both which were suitable in picking up the growing thuds and vibrations against the ground he had become accustomed to feeling moments before being tossed around like a ragdoll. It was accompanied by something else as well, like water moving around. His mind wasn’t working well enough to put the two of them together. And why should that even matter when the first of the sounds already means death to him? The giant was approaching, ready to finish what he had started.

Hugo looked around the new area for anything that might help him. There weren’t any crates left over to hide with, nothing to really use as a weapon. Giving up on finding any usable aid in this empty part of the warehouse Hugo looked ahead towards his approaching foe.

Papelbon came into his view, as large and angry as ever, with only the steel casing around his thick left arm being different from the previous times. He kept walking forward, a heavy aroma flooding the air around him as gasoline poured down his sides from the barrel. He approached Hugo, his right arm back at his side, ready to launch his fist into Hugo’s skull with as much force as he could put behind it.

Hugo began walking backwards as his opponent inched ever closer, falling onto his back after only two steps, his body unable to keep up with his mind and gravity. He landed with a small crunch, probably his spine further breaking, not that the giant didn’t already do a fairly thorough job on it. Hugo flailed around hopelessly with his arms as Papelbon positioned himself over his body. He felt a small stone on the ground and placed it between his fingers. As Papelbon thrust down his massive fist, Hugo spent his last few moments with the small stone in his hands, trying with the last of his strength to bring it against his assailant.

[Kargath]

I'll call 'time' Saturday evening my time (early morning your time), if no other judge has before then.

[Acradius]

There was no single force that saved the hide of the Time Warrior this time. Anything on its own would have been a moot point; a mere vague suggestion of the human will to survive. As the bullet sped towards his face, only a trifecta of things could have conspired to spare Acradius from the fate delivered by the great equalizer known as personal ballistic firearms. And those three things were not fate, or destiny, or divine intervention. They were things available, on one level or another, to any human. Alone, they didn't count for much, but together, they can really make someone's day. Instinct was the first thing to kick in. As the rush of the drug hit his brain, somewhere in the chaotic bundle of signals there was a 'getthehellouttatheway' that managed to make it through. The second factor that went into the equation was his own physical fitness. Time Boosting and absurd psionic abilities aside, Acradius was in great shape. Even in the act of falling into a drugged pile of man, he did it in one smooth motion. If collapsing was an art form, Acradius just became the Mona Lisa. And the last thing that was going in his favor was the one thing that ever saved people in Las Vegas. The singular reason many didn't get sucked into the city never to return. Luck. Blind, senseless luck. Fate watches over fools and small children, but luck doesn't discriminate. The coin simply landed on the side that allowed the Time Warrior to live.

That isn't to say he escaped completely. Far from it. The bullet entered the man's agape mouth, and exited the back of his head. The difference between that and a mortal blow? The aim was off just two and a half inches to the left. The uninvited piece of metal shattered the right part of his jawbone, sending blood and flesh and minute white fragments in a sanguine mist behind him, but as the projectile exited, it left its true deed undone. The victim was not yet dead.

The armored body collapsed into the small river of the waste of a race. The 'water' around it churned as it began twitching and spasming in a bizzare yin-yang of pain and pleasure. Then the seizure became a blur. Gray metal and tanned skin and blond hair thrashed about in the midst of a drugged Time Boost. Las Vegas embodied took a few steps back. At that speed, he was kicking up some serious debris, and let's face it: as dirty as his suit was, he didn't need a more expensive dry cleaning bill. The fit reached its culminating peak, and with a filthy brown geyser, Acradius was gone.

Vegas blinked. Did he leave? Did he realize what he was up against, and make the wisest decision he could? Surely not. The Time Warrior was far too persistant, and if he was as intent on making the spirit pay for his crimes against humanity, this was certainly not the last he would see of the blond man. Taking a moment to himself, Las Vegas puffed on his cigar and tried in vain to wring the urine out of his tie. That's when he felt it: something was wrong. Utterly, horribly wrong. It seemed as though he had started hemmoraging from somewhere, but couldn't put his finger on it. There was no internal damage from the single blow he took, but it felt as though an icy hand had reached up from the pit of his stomach and grabbed his blackened and oozing excuse for a heart. A brief flash of bright, white light later, and he saw why.

Diving out of the way, the tuxedo-clad figure narrowly avoided being crushed by a very large, round, metal object. Acradius simply sat there on top of it, smirking for all he was worth with the side of his face that remained. The wound was still there, but no longer fresh. With all that thrashing about in the middle of a Time Boost, there was no telling how many hours had passed for him, but it had scabbed over. Still, talking was not an option. So he just put his thoughts into the hazy air, and Las Vegas would hear them all the same. "You recognize this thing, don't you?" He asked. "It's the vault door of the Bellagio casino. You wouldn't believe how much cash was stashed away in there! Well, maybe you would. Every red cent is gone now, by the way." The blond man gave an injured chuckle. "I teleported it to the coffers of an Adult Education fund, with outreach programs to help people who are down on their luck." That explained the pain Vegas was feeling. The one thing, the very central lifeblood of the entire city was the almighty dollar. And this guy had just robbed him blind. Not only that, he gave it to a place that would cut into his herd of gambling, drug, and sex-addicted cattle. It did not put the spirit in a happy mood.

The gun raised again and spit fire at the knight in filthy armor. Two bullets ricocheted off his breastplate, and Vegas felt a kidney shot before his eyes registered the Time-Boosted movement of his foe. "I'm counting your cards." The spirit spun around with a hastily-aimed right cross. He missed as Acradius leaned backwards, and was punished by a metal-encased knee to the solar plexus. "I'm using weighted dice." Las Vegas got creative. He used the same strange movement as he had earlier and raised his legs over himself as he stood on his hands. He kicked at the Time Warrior's face, and almost connected when his opponent spun around to his now-front side. Acradius' eyes glowed white as he gave Las Vegas a telekinetic shove down the street. Seeing as he was on his hands at the time, the spirit tumbled and flipped through the refuse, before sliding to a halt on his feet. "I'm hacking your video poker." The man in the tuxedo took a deep breath and blew the putrid fog of pollution that only a city the size of Vegas could produce. The sun was blotted out and the very air around them was more black than it was clear. Out of the darkness, a bright blue bolt launched itself at the spirit, catching him off-guard, square in the chest, and took him off his feet. It burned with the heat of the desert sun, and Air Conditioning was miles away. As the smoke cleared, Las Vegas felt the cold press of a blade to his throat. He stared up at the blonde from his back, getting a full view of the legendary Quantum blade. "In short, I'm beating the house."

[Inferno Dragon]

OOC: you realize he's a super saiyan 3 right now right? which is strong enough to withstand alot of punishment and walk away from that with barely a scratch on 'em.


when it was over the planet returned to normal. The aura of nichi released Inferno to let him fall so that niche could declair himself the victor, but Inferno stood there as if nothing had even happened.

Inferno: is that all you've got nichi? because if it is then you're not worth my time.


Inferno formed a ball of ki in one hand and a ball of dragonfire in the other and forced the two together in front of him to form a firey ball of dragonfire ki and took his familiar stance from before, charging up the ball in his hands with both energy types. Inferno smirked as it reached maximum capacity

Inferno: Blazing Kamehame...

in an attempt to stop the attack nichi tried to lock Inferno up again but when the aura attempted to freeze Inferno again Inferno had already vanished. Nichi tried scanning the area to find Inferno but he was nowhere to be found. The blue skinned warrior then turned around to see Inferno standing right there having just reappeared.

Inferno: HAAAA!!!

Before Nichi could react he was hit full force with the massive attack at point blank range. the firey beam rocketed him up through the sky and with such force that he couldn't escape from the front of the beam.

Nichi: that blasted saiya-jin! when I get off this beam I'm going to... wait, what's that thing getting closer to me?!

But before he could figure it out he was driven right into the surface of the Deimos moon of Mars. The beam pushed him further and further into the surface before it stopped. Nichi lay in the center of the now largest crater on Deimos annoyed by the fact that if he wanted to continue his fight with Inferno he'd have to warp back to the surface of mars.

[Kargath]

FYI: Approx 3.5 hours remain as of this post.

[Wyborn]

"In short, I'm beating the house."

He blinked – he had to, eventually – and when he looked down his sword was at the throat of a naked hooker, and he didn't know what struck him more: the outdated style of her hair or the stretch marks leading up her inner thighs.

“Rape! RAPE!”

His jaw would have fallen slack if i were capable of doing so – his mind slammed against the apparent reality of what he was looking at compared with what should be and in that moment the woman's knee connected with the sword, knocking it upwards, and then she was on her feet and he had never seen anything quite like a crazed hooker with brass knuckles on both hands and fire in her eyes.

The first blow struck Acradius across the bridge of his nose, raking the skin all the way up between his eyes, where the secondary impact broke that bone. Acradius staggered backwards, screamed out of reflex as blood clouded his vision and then the second blow struck and his jaw was torn open again and the pain blinded him, and he winked out, slipping into some new bizarre timestream to recuperate.

He was back and he wasn't blind and he swung the Quantum level with the neck of the Spirit of Las Vegas, and when he caught nothing but air something sank in the pit of his stomach and he wondered if he might be about to die.

The Louisville slugger connected with the side of his helmet and the sound it make was good and solid, like a baseball, and he staggered but he turned and saw the Spirit, in full gangster regalia, his eyes burning neon and his breath coming out in hideous, smoky whisps. The Quantum came up and then the bat hit his hand, so hard the armor broke (why didn't the bat, he wondered) and the bones in his hand shattered, and then the Quantum fell to the ground, clattering to the sound of a slot machine jackpot.

“Shoulda walked, kid.”

The bat hit him in the stomach, doubling him over, and when he looked up he saw that he had hurt the spirit, the chest was burned and blood dribbled down its chin, but more than hurt there was rage in those eyes.

“House always wins, if you play long enough.”

The spirit brought around the bat in a low arc, and Acradius' wrists broke at the impact but he caught the weapon in his hands, hauling himself to a standing position and looking the city he had come to attack straight in the face. The noise was incredible, drowning out everything, by Christ he was sure he heard lions-

“And in this town, if you cheat, the House kills you.”

Vegas let go of the bat with his right hand and shoved his fore and middle fingers into Acradius' eye sockets. Time stood still for the Time Warrior as the fingers twisted and then wrenched out, a spurt of blood filling the air in their wake. Maybe he wasn't blinded, he hoped he wasn't blinded, but in that moment he couldn't see and while he couldn't see he felt the force behind the bat drop away, heard the sound of that gun's chamber being loaded, heard the breathy sound of Vegas inhaling sharply through his nose as the gun was brought to bear-

OoC: And that's it. Good luck in the judgings, Acradius. Good round. -OoC

[Phenom]

OoC: I suppose it is up to me to put a stamp of finality on this exchange.

In an instant, all Felix Papelbon had set out to accomplish had been achieved and ruined at once. In a primal sense, what transpired as he lowered his metal-wrapped appendage down upon his hapless target with ruthless aggression satisfied every basic urge that yearned in his body with one sickly smash. However, as the cursed green rock came in the midst of his heinous flight plan, all business and financial goals went the way of the dinosaur.

As the southern-bred monster connected for a final time to what remained of Hugo Burnell's already ravaged torso, Papelbon's eyes had already filled to the brim with nauseating remorse as the sheer force at which he had unleashed his sure-handed finishing blow had caused him to absolutely obliterate the very jewel he had been sent to retrieve by any means necessary.

His bestial and sadistic nature was quenched as he felt the recoiling spray of blood from Hugo's mouth shoot up like a geyser as his barrel-arm breached his midsection like never before, but what remained of his social awareness caused him to drop to his knees as the shards of green rained down like miniature daggers on his face.

"Not...after all this..."

Papelbon gasped through labored breaths as his hate-fueled adrenaline began to fade away and his mortality became quite apparent as his lung began to asphyxiate with free-flowing bodily fluid. In the midst of his panicked state he scrounged maniacally around the gasoline-drenched floor on all fours, scraping his fingernails along the floorboards in attempt to salvage the countless pieces of diamond dust the green gem had been reduced to at the expense of his furious desires. Looking down at his gnarled palms, Papelbon came to the bitter realization of what his bull-headed aggression had cost him. The gem was history, and so was he. For the first time in his lengthy existence, he had failed.

The sobering conclusion to his brief but bloody affair with Hugo was so devastating that Papelbon began to quiver violently from head to toe. Partly from exhaustion but mostly from humility, the colossus dropped his head down and closed his eyes. He no longer heard the defiant rhythm of his prey's breath, but at this point in time it was none of his concern whether his opponent had lived through his final menacing blow that had caused the entire room to shudder in time with its profound impact.

To weak to exit the room let alone the structure of his private but personal humiliation, Hugo willed his free hand to reach inside his vest and withdraw the tool of his inevitable destruction. Clenching the Zippo lighter tightly in his fist, Papelbon raised his scarred thumb in position. With one quick flick, the pier district so used to a veil of darkness was treated to a brief but extraordinary display of brilliant light. An era's worth of flames burst from the second story window of the abandoned warehouse, sending shattered glass, smoldering concrete but most importantly the memory of a priceless jewel into the gaping maw of the awaiting sea.

While the crackle of starving flame and smoldering rubble caused a dull glow over the landscape of the harbor, all else was as it had been for years in the ghostly district. All that remained to serve as a reminder of the grisly confrontation was Felix Papelbon's pinstriped blazer just feet away from the warehouse inferno, blowing softly in the sea breeze as if in salute of its fallen master.

[Kargath]

THAT'S TIME.

Judges, I'll be making utility threads in [supersecret garbage bin forum] that will contain only one match each, to make things easier for myself. I'll link you to them soon.

[Erdawn Il Deus]

Not impressed.

[LOOT]

Aye, my apologies. My bloody keyboard died on me Thursday. -_-

[Erdawn Il Deus]

Ah well.

[The Willful Wanderer]

Pff.

You're not impressed? I didn't even get a second post out of T3h.

Sorry to see your lack of intarweb is so bad, Darkness.