Chojin Patriarch
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Unfortunately, that counts as even by her standard, because you have a blade. The X-Ionised edge and your armour balance it out. I wonder: If he ditches the armour, would she be weakened?5th May
03:11 GMT -5
Aurakos approaches me slowly, sword partially extended. She's got better reach that me, because my blade is a backup weapon at most and certainly wasn't designed for duelling.
No substitutions allowed, OL. She's also a lot more metaphorically weighty than he is, being the daughter of a powerful Hero, while he's just a Lieutenant. And in her narrative, a villain's lieutenant at that.
And her power has probably decided you're a Rogue. What with the tumbling and daggers. The armour is atypical, but hey, the Source don't give a shit."Because you're tr-"
A small lunge which turns into a feint as I go to parry, then a stab aimed at my gauntlet which I counter with a power stomp which sends me into the air and lets me parry while sideways.
Interesting that she's not going for an instant kill, even when she gets an opening. The punch could have been hard enough to punch through the plating, but it only pushed him back. Odd..."-trained for this. I'm artlessly-"
Aurakos punches with her left hand, hitting me in the cuirass and sending me tumbling backwards.
And your blades aren't designed to be capable of, say, decapitation? Or going for the spine?"-flailing."
Things slow again as I correct my fall. My armour's movement calculation systems are clearly working; I'd never be this mobile without it. The question is: what do I do? Duelling the undead won't result in them tiring first. The only thing I can think of is taking a hit to give myself a clear strike at her forehead, but given that that's a New God sword and the fact that she knows what she's doing with it I can't guarantee that she won't simply use the opportunity to kill me. And while enough of her face is on display that I can hit the witch-sign if I get the right angle, there's a pretty good chance that I won't get that angle. And then it will simply be a matter of slashing into me and I'll die of blood loss.
That might count as a surrender, but she's not operating under the same rules of engagement. She has no onus to take you alive..."Ah… That.. is true. But I don't think that I can alter her use of her God Name. She is a lot older than me."
"What happens if I toss my swords away?"
Yeah, she can easily outlast you, dismantling your armour one piece at a time. This is really weighted against your normal methods..."I imagine that she would-"
Aurakos stabs, letting me parry so that I can't stop her punching me in the faceplate. No real damage, but the sensors built into my armour aren't designed to take sustained punishment.
"-probably stab you."
Ah, the old "If I'm on fire, they can't grab me!" play. And her power is probably treating your armour as a point in your favour."With a sword that-"
Okay, my kinetic barrier isn't working. How about plasma shield?
"-isn't equal?"
It's usually a sign of surrender, or an indication you want to fight with bare hands... In either case, she's stronger.I hear the signature faint hum of my plasma barrier as it actually responds to my activation instruction. I.. suppose that's working because it's a pure toughness boost, not a negation of a particular type of attack that she can't mirror.
"Throwing weapons away isn't the same-"
Then again, does she know there's a person there? Or is she seeing an automaton of strange design, likely an enemy?Another weapon lunge, another parry, but this time when she tries to punch me I reinforce the plasma barrier and counter, forcefully knocking her empty left hand away and giving me an openi-. No, damn it! Missed the damn witch-sign and just poked her in the cheek!
"-as never having had them. That-"
Well, at least you can switch things up. Bet she'd swap hands to counter.Grab her sword forearm, undeploy right blade, deploy left and it works, slash-
"-doesn't make sense."
Bare hands it is, I see. Or will it simply count you as holding it aside while you do something else...She turns her head and I scour a line along the side of her helmet, while she twists her arm and stabs weakly at my right shoulder just about going through the plasma shield and poking a hole in the armour without hitting anything significant.
Undeploy both blades.
So, how effective would joint dislocations be? Sure, she can't feel pain, but knocking a joint out of its' natural connection will still hamper its functionality."Okay, what counts-"
Push off and slam us both against the far wall, because while super strength fights are usually resolved by grabbles neither of us are dropping our blades, she's undead and I'm in full armour. Choke holds are right out, she doesn't feel pain and if Canis is anything to go by she'll regenerate chip damage faster than I can inflict it.
"-armed?"
Problem of the armour. As agile as it is, it's still bigger and heavier than she is. And momentum is not your friend in this fight.I strain my legs to keep her pinned against the wall, letting my armour and plasma shield soak the punches and knee strikes she uses to try and force me back into sword range. I reciprocate with my right fist and she grabs it and pushes it aside so that I punch the wall behind her.
"If she has it in her possession-"
Hmm... Your armour isn't designed to be removed without a ring, is it? No ditching it to even the odds, then. And no time to try, because the second you let go of her to unclip something, her fist will be pounding on your head.Good news is that she's not strong enough to simply squeeze through my armour. And she can't do what Printwhistle did and set us both on fire. And she can't fly, so she can't simply-.
She tries lifting me off my feet, using the wall behind her as an anchor. Except that doesn't work because I can just adjust my posture, threatening to twist her into a pose that would allow me to grapple her before she abandons the effort.
Unfortunately, Gods don't have quite the same reflexes as humans. I expect she's aware of the damage, but knows she can tank it, so she just ignores it..."-then she is armed-"
I stamp on her left foot with my right, to no apparent effect. Grundies apparently can't exactly feel pain in the same way that living creatures do, but the idea that being injured is bad is so ground in to human psychology that it remains there even after death.
"-with it."
Ow, she fights dirty, huh? Bet that'll leave an interesting mark to show off later."If I tell you-"
Aurakos opens her mouth and tries biting my armour, and I hear a hideous noise as super strong teeth scrape across my outer plating.
And maybe annoy her. I don't think you want her more angry, do you?"-where in my body my-"
I take a firm grip on her and the wall, then headbutt her in the forehead. I don't do any damage but I do cause her head to jerk back slightly.
At least she can't try and pull anything vital off."-my ring is, how-"
I try to repeat the action, but she angles her helmet and pushes against my grip, threatening to throw me back if I persist.
...Cut it out of you? Man, talk about going to extremes. Also, when do you think you're going to have a chance with her constantly attacking?"-quickly could you cut it out of me?"
I punch her with my right gauntlet fist, trusting my left to keep her sword out of the way and my armour to hold against-. Against her own fist.
Like I said, go for the decapitation. You could probably sew her head back on later, once you scrape the control sigil out... If you wanted her kind-of-alive."Not so quickly that-"
Her neck is somewhat exposed, but she doesn't need to breathe!
Ah, classic rogue method: If you can't win, cheat. I fully expect her to swat the Spine Rider the second it comes within reach, though..."-she could not slay you."
Hellwraith, go and find a Spine Rider, then come back and try using it to control her.
You'd have a couple of painful aches in your head and chest if they weren't, OL...As you wish, Master.
The wraith emerges from the ring in my skull and flies up through the stone into the chamber above. At least that confirms that the rings are functioning.
Ow, the agony of de feet. I think she's starting to get annoyed that you're trying to talk to someone instead of battling her properly..."She's using the Source, right? What's-"
She-. Aaaaargh! She drops her sword point-down on my left boot, and all my plasma shield can do is turn it aside slightly before it slides into my foot. In armour I'm not really putting much weight on my organic foot, but the pain and blood loss are noticeable and I wouldn't be able to use the armour's purple healing ray until the sword is out.
Because technically, she can break away from you, and grab the blade again. Basic storytelling logic, which is what this fight is running on."-the 'balance' for the Source?"
Aurakos then uses her now-empty hand to get a better grip on me in order to hurl me away. But disarming yourself counts as armed.
Oh, no. Bad idea. Don't forget, OL, Melmoth is probably watching all of this. Do you want him getting anywhere near best snake?"Darkseid? The Anti-Life? The.. Great Darkness?"
I deploy my right gauntlet's blade and try to thrust it into her forehead, and she's forced to use all of her concentration to keep it off.
"How about the Ophidian?"
While I suspect some men would love to be in OL's position right now, this fight is getting tougher. The narrative her Godspeech is forcing kind of prevents any real 'cheating' OL could try. The problem is, OL isn't thinking narratively yet. And Canis can't really explain that, he's just as caught up in the narrative...
Double space here.
...usually resolved by grapples neither of us...