Armageddon (The Gauntlet Round 5)

The darkness overhead sends down a pillar, a tornado of it's shadows. Clearing the sky as all of it transfers to that location. As it clears, a black figure is forming out of it. The darkness subsides, revealing to be Daimōn. He slowly stands up from his kneeling position. Looking around the battlefield Hmph... what did I miss?

"Miss? Can't say I missed seeing you Dorkman! Er... Daimōn!" He slightly grins yet narrows his eyes behind his sunglasses "It is I... Aleda! The rising rock star of EF City!" All the training and other experiences that he and his party have gone through in recent times has allowed him to carry back some of his usual bravado... no longer feeling the trauma and grief from his earlier encounters with Daimōn... "Today... Team ASS is going to ROCK you! ASS... as in... A Simple Plan!" He gestures at the two other figures beside him... meet my pact bro... fox dude Ezume... and goth... er... alternative chick Ama! *He cranks up his weaponized sound amplifier to maximum and picks a few slow sounding notes… each note producing a rather powerful sound wave that crushes a few stones surrounding him into dust and sending some decent sized ones flying about… hopefully some toward Daimōn even if they only act as an annoyance “Is this the real life?~” He starts singing, picturing himself in a venue as opposed to a battlefield… he pictures Daimōn as a heckler undeserving of his direct focus… he pictures Ezume and Ama in his mind as VIPs deserving his attention… he’s focusing on them in order to enhance their abiities… “Is this just fantasy?~” He moves around in a slow yet methodical pace more careful now of his surroundings than in the past “Caught in a landslide~” Bloody Mary the guitar glows ominously and releases a booming series of thunderbolts that seem to hover around Team ASS as if waiting for the next command “NO ESCAPE FROM REALITY!~” With that last verse, some of the thunderbolts suddenly streak towards Daimōn faster than sound… while some stay around hovering around Team ASS as if waiting to be used further by either Aleda or Ezume or Ama… “Open your eyes~ Look up to the skies and see~” He sings this verse as if giving a signal to Ezume and Amathyst…

He stares blankly at the trio, scratching his head

Ezume: I sigh, glancing towards Aleda's direction ..team name still definitely coulda' used some work, but we'll rewrite the history after kickin' mister evils ass here! I close my eyes and let the amplifying powers of Aleda's magic flow through me, taking a deep breath to not let the unusual atmosphere bother and distract me. I raise my arms and channel essence, creating fiery sparks that form into small, burning orbs around me. channeling some more essence until I have several hovering around me, and I open my eyes to fastball them towards Daimon on Aleda's signal before he could fully comprehend why we were here.

Raises his other hand I agree with this fox about the team.... name... thing....

muses aloud "Well your previous opponent Queen Nocti didn't approve of us using MOM. What a shame! Nothing strikes fear like saying MOM will beat your ass!"

He stares, even more dumbfounded

Ezume: ahem told him that before! should've heard the other names mister rock star was planning on using!

Mutters to himself Baldur must have hit me harder than I thought... I must be seeing things

Dark Camera (Hazma): silently takes up position in the distance ...

He can't help but scan around the battlefield, making sure this is real. Looks at the three of them again Is this what they call a fever dream?

Amathyst: Hey its a perfectly justified name, I have proof from signatures that whole heartly agree! *atop the saddle of a skeletal crocodile with a dozen skeletons around me to keep watch, clutching a runic tablet of a dead language am I scratching with chalk the words needed keel both aleda and ezume perfectly in synch for any teleporting to happen in succession of one another or while both are getting swooped around in easy to mix up circumstances. *

He continues strumming and picking away at notes continuing his somewhat slow and calculated maneuver around the battlefield as if it were any other venue… taking notes in his head of his surroundings… the location of his allies… the amount of dust and fog of war… among other things. ”Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter... to me~" Just like in training… he senses the familiar energy of Ezume’s fireballs as they are hurled towards Daimōn "To me~" He closes his eyes… not even looking… but after all, his will is also that of Bloody Mary’s… several of of the bolts of lightning hovering above the party suddenly home into Ezume’s magical orbs… in a pattern… the first bolt of lightning striking the first orb and infusing cursed blood lightning magic with it… so close to Daimōn… and another… and another… until all the enhanced orbs have hit their target. *While this is happening, he continues singing and playing on Bloody Mary the guitar. “Mama~ Just KILLED a man~” He throws a glance at Ama as if hinting for a portal…

Get's struck by the assault Nope... that felt real

He finishes rubbing his forehead. Only having the reflexes to cover his eyes again from getting blinded. His body squirms a little as the nato rounds and fire lasers find those spots he was struck in the previous fight. He lowers his hands when it is done, not showing any extra scars. Still standing where he was before You are either brave, or foolish coming at me with that... He bends down to make his leap, but grunts, almost falling to his knees. He stands up straight, sighing, making long strides towards the trio instead Is Anala scraping the bottom of the barrel already? Sending you three

He momentarily stops to respond to Daimōn's comment about Anala "What's the the matter? Afraid of ASS? No pun intended since you were also talking about Anus... er... Anala!" He sees Daimōn trying to close the gap and starts playing the notes a little quicker in response* "I see a little silhouette of a man~" He sings that verse in a teasing tone while hopping around in a mixture of taunting and adrenaline "Scaramouch~ Will you do the Fandango?~" Bloody Mary glows and unleashes a quick series of lightning bolts that form wall barriers of sorts in front of Daimōn... forcing him to probably smash through each one and hopefully slowing him down a bit "Thunderbolt and lightning!~ Very... VERY... frightening me!~" Meanwhile he aims the tail of his guitar at Daimōn in the distance as if trying to snipe his head off

His fists ignite fiery as he approaches the barriers put up bye Aleda and Ezume. Striking them a couple of times like punching bags to get them out of the way I am surrounded by idiots.... He takes the purple twinkling stary lights without flinching, only glaring at Amathyst. His arms fully ignite into flames, punching both forward to send a shockwave of fire to destroy the remaining barriers Enough of this! Keeping his hands in position, multiple smaller fireballs shoot out of his hands. A rapid fire of them homing at several at each of the three

"SO YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME~” He was in the middle of playing and singing the song only to be whisked away yet again... "AND SPIT IN MY EYE?~" He sang that last part as if almost a legitimate question... being surprised to be next to a pond suddenly and yet thankful to be out of harm's way at almost the last second as the fireballs that were supposed to hit him crashed into his previous location leaving behind blatant destruction “JUST GOT TO GET OUT~ JUST GOT TO GET RIGHT OUT OF HERE~” He focuses from the distance on the new locations of Amathyst and Ezume… as if they were in nosebleed section areas continuing to enhance them as necessary… and the music becomes faster paced indicative of the current situation… and perhaps it’s almost time to transition into an even faster paced song soon… “Nothing really matters to me~ee~” Any way the wind blows…~” As he concludes, he starts transitioning into a faster paced song playing much more frantically now than earlier “Reach for the stars with the heart that you've torn apart~” Bloody Mary the guitar glows brightly as if charging up for something big… the clouds above him turning gray being a hint… “Blazing high~ Satisfied~ riding through the skies~” He takes aim at Daimōn from the distance “THIS IS YOUR ARMAGEDDON!!!~” The gray clouds above him shoot multiple bolts of lightning into Daimōn’s location… the attack from above hopefully at least momentarily distracting him

He continues his advance forward. Taking the lightning shots, the impacts making him sway, his face giving off a few signs that they are striking his wounded areas. He looks up at Ezume with his calm approach Looks like you chose the wrong people to bring with you on the field of battle, little fox

"Get out of there Ezume!" He grumbles under his breath as he notices Daimōn closing in his pact bro while quickly resuming singing and playing Bloody Mary the guitar "So powerful~” Trusting in Ezume to use deceptive fox tricks to escape, he formulates a plan to quickly rush to Amathyst’s side as she just been hit by a bolt of lightning “It's over in a flash of light~" Bloody Mary the guitar glows once again and as soon as the glow is bright enough he turns his back to Amathyst’s location… “You’ve rattled up~” He turns off the weaponized sound waves temporarily… he points the tail of his guitar away from him and in that moment… a particularly strong bolt of lightning shoots out… one that had enough force to launch him backwards into Amathyst’s location… much quicker than running all the way there and less likely to catch Daimōn’s attention… where he is landed safely yet somewhat roughly by a group of skeletons “Everything is so unclear~” He sings and plays that part a bit shakily due to the experience of fast traveling and landing and makes his way over to Amathyst who is being supported by a skeleton or two “I see the truth~” He breaks away from playing for a mere few seconds to slap his hand on her butt several times… to get her going again… hopefully she won’t repeat the same mistake again or else she might really be done for at that time “Through the lies~” He then refocuses on Ezume hoping the power of music can improve the fox’s chance of escape “Don't you hide it behind a disguise and a fake smile~”

He takes the fire orb and daggers, grunting as a couple find their way to his wounds. He turns to watch the orb that flies past him, then turns back to see Ezume disappeared. Scanning around for the fox, at the same time he raises his hand, returning the favor of dark clouds and multiple lightning bolts being sent down on Aleda and Amathyst That's your plan? Annoy me? For what end? What good will that do?!

He gives a slight sigh of relief upon witnessing Ezume successfully using a trick to get away from Daimōn “Reach for the stars~” He sings and plays rather appropriately considering the large amount of lightning bolts heading their way… unleashing lightning bolts of his own through his guitar, which in turn, home in on several of the incoming lightning bolts… canceling them out in a bright array of explosions “With the heart that you've torn apart~” But there are too many… he can’t counter every single one… he lightly elbows Amathyst from the back as if giving her the signal to activate a portal “Patch it up~ and arise~”

He closes his eyes, taking deep breathes, then opens them to look at the trio This hasn't gone according to plan, there have been a couple of surprises. Constantly taking my prey away from me. Bringing my child back to pull that suicide run after the other two failed He starts walking over, slowly, taking his time Now you three, are here to annoy me while I'm not feeling myself He pauses for a minute while he casually walks the long distance I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! Clouds form over the entire battlefield and beyond, dark clouds at first that changed color. It didn't take long for the sky itself to appear like it is on fire. Lightning striking across them surrounded in it. It rains, not water, blood rain. The field smells toxic, the air itself burning the lungs as it is breathed in. He raises his arms and looks to the sky You sing of Armageddon, I will bring it to you! The blood rain collects in the air all around, forming into many who looks like him taking the same pose. Then advancing on the trio, keeping even space to avoid gaps. Covering the grounds as far as the eye can see

From his vantage point atop Ama’s crocodile… skeleton… thing… and slightly blushing from goth… er… alternative rock chick Amathyst… he observes the battlefield which seems to be changing all around them “I have a bad feeling about this…” He sighs in seeing the change in environment, but maybe also because of what happened to his $500 sunglasses earlier “I see the truth in your eyes~ through the lies~” He continues to sing and play as best he can but something in the air makes it harder… just barely allowing him to unleash a defensive swirling mass of lightning bolts around the team. Lightning bolts continuously shoot out from the swirling mass at nearby targets. At the same time, from his vantage point atop the steed, he aims the tail of his guitar at potential targets sniping at them with a lightning bolts which home in on their desired target “This is yo—” He coughs from whatever that suspicious substance is in the air “Armag—” He coughs again gradually losing focus and his attacks and ability to enhance his allies diminishes in the process. He resorts to simple note playing and strumming to get a few more attacks in before seriously considering his ultimate attack “I h-have—” He coughs “To… do… t-this…” He grabs a tight hold of the G string of Bloody Mary the electric guitar and looks intently toward Daimōn’s location but also keeps track of what Ezume and Amathyst are doing through his peripheral vision

As the blood forms of him get destroyed, more appear to take their place. Surrounding and closing in on the trio. The real him stands there, only watching now What's the matter, team assbutt? A little rain is too much for you~?

Still shakily yet firmly clutching on to Bloody Mary’s G string, he overhears Ezume’s ominous words… “Ezu—“ He says as he coughs from the toxic air while turning his head toward Ezume “E-Ezume? Fox… dude?” He struggles to get his words out all the while still hanging on to the G string of his guitar “Wha—what? Are you… planning?” He notices Ezume’s eyes glowing… and although used to feeling Ezume’s energy during their training sessions in the past... something about this particular energy felt different with a mixture of bitterness, power, and a hint of sorrow… “No…” He shakes his head slowly at Ezume… as if getting the hint… “If… you’re gonna do—” He has a violent coughing fit before being able to finish his sentence… and his focus is way off at this point due to the situation in battle and being distracted by Ezume’s words…

He watches the oncoming orbs and summoned rock No, I'm done giving you your useless time to shine. He kicks the rock down, standing on it with his foot. Knocking one orb into it to destroy it, then punching the other back at them Suffer... and die

“You… Ezume… fox dude… you’re going to…” He is oblivious to the battle at this point… “E-explode?” He would’ve shouted that last part at Ezume had the air not been so hard to breathe “I guess…” He coughs “If your noble… sacrifice saves… us all…” He tries his best to form a grin remembering all the memories… the experiences… the ups and downs… they shared since arriving in EF City at roughly the same time “Then… I guess… that’s fucking metal…” He slowly extends his free hand out toward Ezume for a bro fist… “Pact bros for life—” BOOM!!! … He was hit by Ezume’s orb which was deflected by Daimōn … The world suddenly turns into a blur around Aleda… in truth… the blur lasted only a few seconds… but in that short amount of time… so much went through his head… his first day in EF City… the concerts… the Afterparty talk shows… the mischief… the groupies… meeting so many interesting people such as Big Mysterious Friendly Dude… pact bro Ezume… Anus… er… Anala… goth… er… alternative rock chick Amathyst… and too many other individuals to name…” … *He didn’t get to be THE rock star of EF City… but… for his heroic stand this day amongst Team ASS… and fighting alongside Anala’s forces… perhaps the title of the LEGENDARY rock star of EF City is more appropriate… ... The last thing he remembers is darkness gradually forming around him and the sound of rocks falling… and in one hand is Bloody Mary’s G string…

Surprisingly doesn't try to stop Tivena All that confident talk... and that's all they had. Disappointing... He turns around to the rest of the field seeing everyone in retreat from the storm he had created I was expecting better than this, it can't be this easy to defeat all of you...

** Characters have been switched... Reloading! **

There was no trace of Aleda being on the battlefield any longer. The only evidence of his heroic stand being his signature red electric guitar with its G string missing... having seemingly been forcefully plucked out as the rock star was hit by one of Ezume's orbs deflected by Daimōn ... As soon as Ezume is whisked away from the battlefield… the guitar glows a bright red color seemingly appropriate for the state of the battlefield as it is now… … The guitar gradually morphs into the shape of a red headed woman wearing mostly red clothes… and she stares away in the distance as if sensing a certain person important to her… before turning her head to glare at Daimōn “So… you’re the bloody wanker Daimōn that Aleda has been concerned about!” She clenches her fists… some of the blood on the battlefield leftover from the injured and fallen streak towards her as if she were a magnet… she absorbs them like nutrients… but the blood rain… for some reason… she can’t absorb it… “You will pay with your blood… or whatever it is that runs through your body… for what you did to Aleda!” Her appearance changes… becoming slightly more grotesque in nature… her eyes glow red… bloody tears stream down from her eyes… her skin itself becomes more reddish in color… she gives off an intimidating aura… her voice remains feminine but with a noticeable distortion to it “There was a brief time… and you weren’t there… but there was brief time I was one of the most feared nightmare creatures in this world! Perhaps it’s time to bloody well remind you of that fact!” A mixture of what looks like… blood and energy of some sort… swirls around Bloody Mary as she maintains her death stare at Daimōn…

He turns back to see this new appearance One thing you should know... you newcomers only think you are more powerful or powerful enough, because we let you reign over your pitiful territories. The great, are never bothered by those who only think they are powerful He opens his arms out, gesturing for Bloody Mary to come at him

** Characters have been switched... Reloading! **

He doesn't move at all, his body swaying a little as all of projectiles hit him. His eyes twitch, but a smile appears on his face So that's what passes as something to be afraid of? The times really have changed, in an older age, we would call people who hit harder than that welps~ His hands drop to his sides, walking forward, his clones forming more. Yet all of them standing still and watching. As if being the audience to the real one. The blood rain seems to be clumping up on his previous wounds. As they absorb into him, the smaller wounds are gone

His body turns to shadow, the blood going right through him as he keeps walking towards Mary

(Not done, oops)

Mr. Hyde preyed on the weak. Now Dracula, he gave a better fight than what the stories told, it took more than a human to take him down. You may have flashed some power amongst mortals and looked good, for the rest of us, we don't need the weak to worship us. My eyes were always on what was above me He grabs a blood tendril, absorbing it into his arm I come from a time where we were powerful enough not to care for trifle things like kingdoms or sites of worship. That was for the weak newcomers who needed that stroke on their ego

The blood rain that was on him branches out, almost shooting off into the copies of him

He sways his arm out, making all of his copies fall apart. The pools of them staying together however. He looks back at her To me, that's all any of you do in the present era, theatrics that lack practicality. Which is find by me, you all put a show on for me, giving me entertainment where you lack the ability to give me a challenge~

As Mary get's near, his hand stretches out from the dust, being a lot closer than before when the explosions happened. Grabbing Mary's neck, walking the rest of the way out Yes, I would like a good challenge, I miss the thrill of a fight that I have to give it my all... I forgot what it feels like actually, almost feels like it wasn't ever real He let's go of Mary, stepping back. Opening his arms out again to give her a free shot I'll say ouch when it hurts~

The scythe scratches across his surface, leaving marks. Marks that heal up as the blood rain drips over him The golden age of stories told, you mean. You should realize that knowledge is often destroyed. History erased and changed, the world isn't what you perceive it to be. Popularity means nothing, on a field where you either make the right calls, or you die~ As Mary was focused on him, his copies were reforming from the ground up. Once again the blood rain branching off of him and passing off to them Nightmares... are for those who live. I can still count how many have seen me, and lived on. But that is about to go to zero with this world soon enough~

I was there, watching. Just because you never saw me, doesn't mean I'm not there. But you are only arguing the disillusioned past, that bores me He holds his arms out to the blood rain Because it is not real blood, it's only been called blood rain... well because it looks like blood. Scientists have examined it for centuries, confused on how it happens. Because all they are looking for is some explanation to the reality they believe in. They examined the rain, and noticed it had DNA in it, not like any matching to any known organism of this world. Because it is my DNA, I mixed my power into the world itself back in the ancient times, this storm kept happening throughout all time. It was what you call a butterfly effect, I used it way back when, and it kept raging on without me. That is true power, not flashy moves to look good in front of others to get their attention of amazement or fear. But to create ripple effects that have no end it. A simple move made by me, and you are all baffled by it. Why am I using it now? Gestures to his copies feeding off of him from a distance Because I'm using it to create true forms of myself. All of you had this plan to hold me back, hold me off, I saw right through it. Soon, there will be a legion of me. Let's see how well you can hold off that

He can be heard through the fog, getting closer to Mary Feared only by the weak He steps out of the fog, right in front of her, showing no signs of being hurt or the slightest bothered by her attacks I am what you should fear the most and have nightmares about He backhands Mary, sending her flying

** Daimōn left the game (definitively). **