Gardevoiran

The Crucible - Winner Take All

Posted. If I need to change anything let me know. I was unsure of how exactly to handle the situation I'd been given so I went out on a limb.

Hah. Tree pun.

The Crucible - Winner Take All

Bonesword - "Kno" Where

@Lazo

The drone had pointed to this location. A restaurant by the looks of things. A... "Russian" one at that. Russia was a thing that had been destroyed last time Bonesword checked. Or it was the land of opposite day considering how much shit there was about it and how it was like "bear tame you" and what-not. It certainly didn't exist in the Nexus, that's for damn sure.

Bonesword climbed off Charlie and walked up to the door, the basil-isk standing watch behind his master. Of course, the building was closed up tight, preventing Bonesword from coming in, but in reality this place seemed a bit too... too... unreal. Magical. It wasn't anything Bonesword had felt before, but he needed to find a way into this place. If his next opponent was going to ever be his ally, they were separated by what seemed to be just a wall. Ok, maybe it wasn't just a wall, but the very faint shattering of what sounded like plates on the inside had to mean something akin to a scuffle.

Bonesword turned around to look at Charlie. "What're you thinking buddy?" The basilisk let out a soft roar before he slithered up to the wall nearby and began to bash at it, trying to get in that way. Bonesword shook his head. Sure Abigail might've caused the basilisks to have sentience, but in the end they weren't really that smart. "Charlie that's going to take us a few hours at least," Bonesword said incredulously. Charlie responded by looking at Bonesword and doing something... odd. The plants that made up Charlie's figure began to ruffle and pop out, as if they were causing Charlie to grow visibly.

"What're you trying to say? Do you want me to grow plants in the walls?" A soft nod from Charlie was the only answer to the question. A small crack had formed in the wall where Charlie bashed, allowing Bonesword to stick a finger in and begin to grow a plant on the inside.

The skeleton backed away from the wall with his fist clenched, before raising it up and expanding it as his grip loosened and his hand spread out. It would be fast and it would be destructive if it worked, hopefully enough to get through the wall...

... but it didn't work. Great. There went that idea.

Bonesword stood there in front of the building, Charlie standing watch of anything that might attack the skeleton.

The War of the Three: Exodus

Amaterasu

"I would normally be happy, but I've misplaced my heart."

---

Name: Amaterasu

Title/Epiphet: Goddess of the Sun, "Ammy"

Allegiance/Faction: Heaven

Race: Goddess

Age: 999

Gender: Female (for the most part)

Height: 5'6"

Weight: Yes.

Backstory:
In the distant past, Amaterasu was slain by her brother, Tsukuyomi, out of jealousy and hatred, who later came to the realization that life wasn't all that great if he didn't have his sister. Out of depression and sadness, Tsukuyomi eventually committed suicide, rejoining his sister in death, much to the dismay of Susanoo. Susanoo fell into a depression that eventually led to his death, in a sense. While the depression was not the exact cause of Susanoo's death, it is believed to have played a big part as Susanoo charged against armies, willingly fighting until he would eventually fall in battle.

Much later, the three deities were reincarnated into their forms, at roughly the same times. Acting as a unit, the triplet trio of Godly Sisters was born into the Heavens, retaining their knowledge of their powers and strengths, and tasked with the goal of keeping the Heavens safe from any harm.

Interestingly, the youngest triplet of the Godly Sisters (by about five minutes) was born... cold. Unlike the versions commonly told about, this reincarnation of Amaterasu was born without a whole heart, as it was effectively torn from her being thousands of years before her reincarnation. As time has passed, a small sliver of her old heart had been reformed, allowing her to feel some sense of compassion, and while she tries hard for it, she longs for that familiar feeling of a full heart.

Powers:
Godly Blessing - At her will, Amaterasu can buff her allies with a defensive aura. The aura can double the defenses of her allies very briefly, or it can slightly increase the defense for an extended period of time. The time period cannot extend for more than a minute or two at a time.
Flight - She can fly. What else needs to be said?
Solar Manipulation - Amaterasu is able to control forms of light and fire similarly, able to apply both of those powers in various ways (typically defensive ways). Her manipulation of these elements often leave them with a certain aspect of holiness, resulting in a passive amount of holy damage that is proportional to the amount of damage she would inflict with the attacks normally.

Notable Applications of Solar Manipulation

[+] Light Wall - Amaterasu raises a wall of solid holy light, able to block even the strongest of attacks and grind enemy advances to a halt. The walls have a short duration, but they're damn effective at what they do.
[+] Prismatic Armor - Reflective armor, able to absorb light and redirect it back at the shooter, and able to take a fair amount of hits before shattering and revealing the tender Amatersu from underneath it.
[+] Fire Storm - Amaterasu can throw a fireball that explodes, causing several more fireballs to rain down from the Heavens and explode on a target, dealing additional damage.

Resistances & Immunities:
- Fireproof.
- Demonic resistance.
- Light resistance.
- Emotional resistance.

Weaknesses:
- Machina weakness due to faction triangles, but namely Eos specifically.
- Stars burn out when given more mass (Stacking buffs makes them wear off faster).
- Slight weakness to water.
- Sealing magics.

Skills:
- Dog Training
- Dog Whispering
- Interrogation
- Monopoly
- Tracking
- Not feeling

Weapons & Equipment:
- Yata-no-Kagami - A resilient mirror to the common person, but the best tool in Amaterasu's arsenal when held by her. Amaterasu is able to tap into the true potential of the mirror, allowing for the mirror to become a sturdy shield when contained in her hands. When possessed by Amaterasu, the mirror acts as a full blown shield, fitting the size of it's wielder accordingly, and reflecting most forms of projectile damage back at the attacker in a concentrated form (provided it is an energy attack). The mirror itself is also able to show the truth behind someone, revealing who they really are on the inside, whether it be a merciless dictator or a humble family man. Alas, the mirror is not indestructible, and it will break when hit with an attack that's too strong for it to be countered, like a giant earth-shattering laser. The attack will still be reflected to a point, but it won't be completely stopped.
- Shortsword - It's an ordinary shortsword. You never know when you'll need a shortsword.

Other: Okami : Rising Sun

---

Apia von Wingstar

"new style, new me."

---

Name: Apia von Wingstar

Title/Epiphet: Hivemother, Buzzing Swarm, Heavenly Traitor, Mom

Allegiance/Faction: Hell

Race: Vampiric Queen Bee / Ascended Human

Age: Pretty Damn Old

Gender: Female (for the most part)

Height: 5'0"

Weight: Yes.

Backstory:
Not much is really known about the Queen in terms of her history prior, as the main extent was that she showed up in the Nexus one day and... asserted herself. What is known about her is that she's spent her last couple of centuries in retirement, trying to construct her own home within the confines of Hell. She tried to fight for the Heavens once, but was hastily casted out when one of her drones stung Deva's face. It was seen as an act of aggression on her part, and she 'retreated' to the confines of Hell as a suitable place to set up her home and domain.

In actuality, while everyone in Hell was fighting in Arcadia and such, she was being handled by Ira in multiple senses of the word..

Before all of that, though. As time passed, she began to become more and more tired of the same process every day. Building her home up was becoming repetitive, especially when you were only building it out of the same materials. She craved variety in her home, and there was one good way to get that variety. Coming out of her retirement to hunt for lands and new materials to construct her home out of. It was a risky idea, but then she remembered that there wasn't much penalty for dying in the Nexus, so she was ready to take on the world! Her home would be the finest in all of Hell- no, THE ENTIRE NEXUS!

Then Dana got involved and Apia became a vampire.

For the last bit of events within the Nexus, Apia has been doing a number of things. She's firstly and foremostly been working on her supply of vampiric bees, trying to turn them into ruthless and massive killing machines capable of actually hurting enemies, and she's also been trying to satiate her bloodlust as a new vampire. Needless to say, both have been going on swell for Apia, but not the residents of the dungeons of Hell.

Powers:
Queenly Majesty - Being the Queen Bee, Apia has distinct control over any bees or the like, often times turning them into her own minions and swarming her opponents with waves upon waves of pure torment and buzzy terror.
- Defend Formation - Apia directs her minions to a defensive form, maximizing the amount of damage lessened at the sacrifice of her own strength and mobility.
- Attack Formation Alpha - Apia directs her minions to swarm something or someone and accumulate a steady amount of damage onto the enemy, acting like a sort of poison (and as DPS). Alpha also has a slight edge over Beta, as it causes the target to become paralyzed in the main area of affliction (arms, legs, torso, etc. Combinations are possible).
- Attack Formation Beta - Similarly to Alpha, Beta is a direction of a swarm to encompass something/someone, but instead of doing steady damage, it does instantaneous damage. The damage output is ridiculous, but the cost of it is greater, ending up with hordes of dead bees and wasps afterwards. It's slightly unnerving for Apia to witness these bee dying.
Stinger Regrowth - Apia, unlike most other bees, does not die when her stinger is lost. It instead is regenerated through some form or another, and she is able to continue life like nothing happened.
Pollination - As a bee, Apia has grown accustomed to the many different varieties of pollen brought to her hive, and as such, she has grown into a resistance of it. Any adverse effects of pollen spread on a battlefield will not affect her (unless it is in very high concentrations or in major abundance).
Flight - She can fly using her tiny insect wings... or is it magic? Bees are too heavy to fly...
Newborn Vampirism - Bloodlust, blood drinking, you know the drill. Apia's trying to get a hold of it, spending a few hours every day simply in the dungeons of hell eating mooks and such, with the occasional actual-demon, but the dungeons can satisfy her for the time being, except on special occasions.
Portal Manipulation - Apia can create portals to and from the pocket dimension in the Honey Rod that allow her to expel more bees from it or allow her to enter it. It's not really an effective combat spell, so Apia uses it almost exclusively to go home.

Resistances & Immunities:
- Any attacks centered around swarms or insects have very little affect on Apia due to her own powers being very similar to that.
- As per usual, Demons have a specific resistance to the Machina. To what extent this is for Apia is currenly uncertain.

Weaknesses:
- If a large portion of her swarm in battle is slain, there is a very high chance Apia might break down and just cry. There's an equally likely chance she'll swear to kill you and maim your corpse.
- As a bee and by the laws of Pokemon, her abilities are significantly hindered in the presence of fire.
- From the new vampirism affecting her, holy attacks are more effective against her, and she counts as an undead enemy.
- Any blood based magic has more of an effect on Apia due to her vampiric abilities.

Skills:
- Apia is an accomplished mother and knows her fair share of mothering.
- Apia is an astounding knitter and crocheter.
- Beekeeping is a must-have for her.
- She is able to hold a place of nobility and she can keep that.

Weapons & Equipment:
Stingers - They're stingers the size of shortswords, capable of being thrown like javelins and able to poison like darts. That's a deadly combination.
The Honey Rod - A magical wand, this weapon is capable of dispensing high amounts of bees and wasps within a very short amount of time, giving Apia a near-limitless supply of her ammunition. If the rod is seperated from her for too long, it will start spewing bees out without any orders, making them hostile to anyone around. It is similarly Apia's own pocket dimension of sorts, and she has access to it in more distinct ways than one. It's her home, and she's always carrying it around. (All subtypes of bees are categorized separately)
Scarf of the Ancients - A rather ordinary shawl given a very unique name. The best thing about it is that it's fireproof and unable to burn, but it doesn't protect the user's entire body when worn.

Sample Post

An Unexpected Interaction

A collaboration between Lmpkio and Gardevoiran

The dungeons of Hell were becoming more and more vacant as the minutes passed, the very faint sound of bees buzzing through the halls and halls of the dungeon, blood littering the floor in splotches and drops. Pools had existed, it would seem, but they had long been dried up by the time that had passed. Either that, or by the actions of one specific newborn vampire.

"Ahh~" Apia said as she arose from another carcass, the cell they had been contained in opened and the victim within it drained of all blood. "... the taste is fading, but it's more metallic than the last one." Apia had been eating residents left and right, but she made extra careful to not consume those that had been required to be captured. Only the ones long forgotten by society and those that could be cared less about. A crimson beard flowed around the bee's mouth as she stood, wiping the liquid from her mouth.

However, her unquenchable bloodlust did not go completely unnoticed. By sheer dumb coincidence, the Ice Lich Ghelgath had just reached the dungeon for a simple visit to a certain prisoner. He was a captive of a recent conquest, a banker that owes him money. It wasn't even that much, just a mere gold coin in fact after he forced the captive to swallow it as a joke. This was only 5 hours ago and he's running late to see him, hoping he wasn't excused to take a shit before he can gut him like a pig with an icicle and retrieve it from his gut. He just hopes he's still in his cell since he was locked up here. Yet as he approaches his cell door, he sees the entire hallway soaked in blood. Not only that, most of the victims seemed to look completely white, as if all of their blood had just been drained from their body.

"Jeez." Ghelgath sighs as he begins to approach the banker's cell, "Sure hope Mr. Moneybags didn't give Dracula a tip to avoid extraction day or somethin'."

As he opens the door, he sees the banker, drained nearly to the bone with blood smears streaking the walls. The lich hurries over to his corpse and checks him throughly for the ingested coin. To his dismay, the coin was nowhere to be seen. He hisses in defeat as he gives a good kick to the banker's ribs, breaking a rib in the process before walking out back into the halls. But never mind the coin, what kind of maniac decided to go for a mass blood transfusion? And why here out of all the places?

"Ghelgath?" Apia's voice choked out when she heard the voice of the lich. This was going to be... difficult to explain in the very least. The bees within the dungeon all swarmed into the Honey Rod as she began to wipe the blood off her face hurriedly, trying to cover her evidence of her actions here. She liked the lich, and she knew that the relationship would be short lived if he found out that she was the one to give all of these people a good suck.

Ugh. Thinking about that innuendo gave her a bad taste in her mouth. Maybe that was just the blood of that banker though, she didn't know it for sure.

The voice followed by an intense sound of buzzing wings grabbed the cold lich's attention as he looks to see the Bee Queen running down the dark halls with her worker drones to greet the ice lich. And what's she doing here? Did she happen to do this by any chance? And if she did this, why the hell did she even conceive of doing it here? The next battle was supposedly taking later tonight, just long enough for a bloodthirsty murder to resist the temptation of going on a murder spree.

"Apia?" he asks confusingly as he takes another glance at his surroundings, "The Hell are you doing here? Did you happen to make this big ole' mess?"

"W-what? Me? N-no I didn't, I came in here and f-ACK!" Apia's speech was interrupted by the sudden cough, rocketing a gold coin directly at Ghelgath's chest. How in the world did that get inside her? Was it... she probably got way too into the eating of that banker. Gross. Gold was not as edible as blood.

Apia's face was reddened by the sudden appearance of the coin, and her embarrassment was emphasized further by her hands shooting up to cover her mouth out of shock. Apia's eyes were wide as she looked back at Ghelgath, unsure of what was coming next.

Ghelgath stares down at what the bee coughed up and bends down to take a look. Unsurprisingly, it was just as he thought. A gold coin. But was it THE gold coin that the banker swallowed? He inspects it carefully, inspecting every detail, scratch, and dent to make sure if it really was it. And sure enough...

It was!

He looks back at Apia in slight disbelief, but rather of horror he was more so impressed as he raises an eyebrow and nods. An innocent looking bee like her did this? Well then. There was only one possible answer he can give to this situation as Ghelgath flips the coin randomly with his thumb.

"You know I'm not even mad." he bluntly replies as he places it in his pocket, "I'm actually quite impressed. I thought I'd be seeing more, puffy-faces and oozing puss rather then blood-sucking and gore-splattering."

The Lich takes a quick glance behind him before turning around.

"How many did you kill already?" he simply asks the bee with nothing else to say.

Apia looks down the hall before lowering her mouth to count, fangs poking out slightly from her mouth. "... I lost count...." That was honest truth. She was being blinded by hunger to the point where counting was foregone in exchange for satisfying her hunger pains. Did it work well? Absolutely. She had to have gone through at least fifty prisoners before Ghelgath entered. Hopefully Rufus or Ira doesn't see what happened here. They might be livid at Apia... or... maybe they wouldn't. This was hell, after all.

"... I feel unclean... but I feel so pure now. Like one of those... things in the Machina... what were they, virgins? Like a re-virgin thing?" She couldn't figure out what she was trying to stay, and ended up just stammering. "Why do I feel this way...?"

The Ice Lich scratches his head as he continues looking at the absolute carnage down the hall. She definitely must've murdered a good chunk of the prisoners in this section before he arrived. And RILD will not be pleased with such a mess going uncleaned... in fact, weren't they going to do a prison inspection here today before the battle? If he's found here, he's also going to get blamed for this entire thing alongside the obvious culprit. He gives an audible groan as he signals the bee to come.

"Well I'm sure as Hell aint gonna be cleaning this mess up." he mutters as he walks up the hallway, "Apia, I know an emergency exit at the back of the facility. RILD is gonna be inspecting this place any second now, and if you don't wanna take responsibility, I'm giving you the chance to escape janitor duty. Follow me."

"Right behind you," Apia said as she grabbed her Honey Rod and began to float behind Ghelgath, carefully looking behind the duo as they continued. All things considered, the dungeon was mostly clean, save for the bodies and the specks of blood, but there was no confirmation that the specks were actually from Apia's doing or from the past. Hopefully they would be treated as if they were from the past. The only real risk is Dana speaking up about the gift she gave Apia, but it seemed like Dana wouldn't do that. She might just keep it a secret and watch her boyfriend squirm out of ignorance and fear.

On the other hand, the cold blood of a lich was... tantalizing and close. Super close. Super tantalizing. Apia's head began to gravitate towards Ghelgath's neck before she pulled her head away with a grunt, resisting the urge to go down on Ghelgath and take his frozen blood as a quick treat. There would be time for that later, most likely.

Plus, it had time to freeze into a tasty snack. A popsicle made from chilled iron and meaty blood. Mmm...

Eventually, the two were able to reach the emergency exit and leave the prison complex. Now standing beside a platform overlooking a small hill that reaches down to the main path, Ghelgath relaxes briefly as he wipes his forehead in response to the intense rush of heat. He turns to face Apia regarding the situation.

"Ok," he begins after smacking his lips and pointing towards the trail, "Now that we're out, just walk down the hill and head to your right where you'll see a bridge. It leads to the main trail and you'll find yourself back at the castle or something, wherever you feel like being at. See ya later, I guess."

With that, he begins to walk down the platform.

"T-thank you... and goodbye..." A small portal, barely enough for Apia to comfortably get into, opened below her as she began to fly downwards into the Honey Rod's Pocket Dimension, conveniently known to her as 'Home'. As her midsection grazed the border between home and Hell, a hand raised up to sign a phrase, a very soft smile appearing over Apia's face as she did it. It would cheesily read 'I love you' before Apia flew down into the rest of the portal, it disappearing behind her.

Whether the sign language was genuine love or simply a way for her to say how enticing her treat was, it was uncertain. Apia didn't know the answer to that herself. On one hand, Ghelgath was a fine man, if not a bit cold and unfeeling, but at the same time, the scent of his frozen life stung Apia's nose sharply as if she needed it in her life. It was astoundingly mind-numbing and she loved the smell of it among other things about Ghelgath. Despite the frozen heart he had, there was an actual man in there.

And Apia was now dedicated to trying to free it, for her and for them.

Mainly for her.

Other: Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee

---

Brock Sinclair

"Let's settle this like true warriors, hm?"

---

Name: Brock Sinclair
Title/Epiphet: Bonesword
Allegiance/Faction: Machina
Race: Ascended Human / Fungal Skeleton
Age: Immortal
Gender: Male
Height: 5'9"
Weight: Eh.

Backstory:

Convenience!

A long time ago, a single mushroom was growing in a forest. A purple mushroom, with green spots, and a very bone-like material as the stalk. Years later, a skeleton rose from the ground in that spot, his skull topped by the head of a mushroom, and his soul free. He began to roam the world that was resistant of the Nexus' influence, eventually finding a human settlement where he attempted interaction. After the attempt, he was hastily rejected due to his appearance being frightful. Saddened and discouraged, the skeleton roamed more, stumbling across a demon settlement, where they welcomed him as a brother. There he learned how to live for himself and how to care and defend people he loved.

Eventually the demons were enraged at the humans, who slaughtered the livestock and burned down a forest. When the skeleton heard the demons were going to go and pillage the humans, the skeleton was glad to join in the endeavor, and marched onwards to go and kill the humans who insulted him so long ago. Once they were there, the demons slew all of the men in the settlement, leaving only the women and children captured.

As the demons rejoiced in their victory, the skeleton couldn't help but feel remorse for what he did that day, how he killed those men, and what the demons were going to do to the women and children... Right before the unforgivable happened to those captured, the skeleton drew his sword in the name of justice, and defended the humans with all of his might. The amount of blood spilled that day was unforgettable and traumatic. The villagers did not know whether or not the skeleton wanted them all for himself or if he wanted to protect them, but either way they tried to slay him to avoid a bad situation in case of that. The skeleton fled, unwilling to hurt those humans, and returned to his life of roaming the lands in search of new people to meet.

(Around this time, the original world Bonesword hailed from was absorbed into the Nexus.)

Many years passed, and the skeleton got tired of roaming and finished off his life of that, making a small shelter in a cave off in a forest. It was a bit later when a human child found him when they were roaming the world. Much to the skeleton's surprise, the child did not run from the demon, rather thought he was funny-looking and treated him like a friend. The skeleton felt a sense of companionship, something he had been without for a long time, and a bond unlike most others was formed. After being mentor to the child until her early adulthood, the two became partners in a romantic bond. When the child's village was attacked, the skeleton came out of hiding and defended every single one of the humans in that village, not letting a single one perish from a demon's weapon.

Every human but one, anyway. The child was slain by the brawniest, bloodiest, and most vile demon in the raid, who thought it would cripple the feelings of the skeleton and make him submit to the raiders. What followed that day was the first instance of an Honor Strike, and holy hell did it finish the raid. The skeleton was celebrated for his heroic actions by the humans, and was welcomed back into the village at anytime.

When the dead child's funeral was had, the skeleton took an oath. From that day on, he would defend mankind with his life, until either the day he died for good, or the day that mankind betrayed him again. Hopefully that doesn't happen for a long time.

Powers:
- Enter: the Sharpswordsman
Throwing swords proves very useful if there are any around. Simply put, this ability allows for Brock to throw any sort of sword with incredible accuracy and power. For a visual explanation, think about how the sword throwing in Superhot works, minus the time effect of it.
- Chloromancy (Plant Manipulation)
Brock can control plants and bend them to his will, allowing for the use of them as extra appendages, armor, or many other ways. Additionally, Brock can create plant constructs with limited sentience. Each construct made quickly can perform a set action before it destroys itself and loses all sentience. A construct with more time spent creating it can perform a myriad of tasks, even achieving full sentience. Pretty neat.
- Necromancy
Manipulation of the Dead and Souls. Bonesword feels as if this magic is unclean, and prefers not to use it, but he is a master necromancer. It's how he managed to cheat death way long ago.
- Undeath
Brock can't die until his skull is destroyed, and can regain a body in that time. Chloromancy and Necromancy are still allowed.
- Honor Strike
Brock unleases a slash fueled by the magical manifestation of his honor, aiming at all hostile targets around him and slamming them with what's best described as a 'sword beam'. This attack used to require a specific situation to use, but now that Brock has grown as a person, he can use this power freely, though it is very taxing to use this more than twice in a battle and the power of the attack was reduced by quite a bit.

Resistances & Immunities:
- Brock will not die unless his skull is destroyed.
- Brock is highly resistant to most sensory-based attacks as a result of having no actual receptors for these senses.
- Brock has an alcoholic tolerance level of at least five million.
- If Brock loses a body part, he can easily replace it with another one.

Weaknesses:
- Brock is a demon, and is more vulnerable to holy attacks as a result.
- Brock is undead, and is vulnerable to fire attacks, though only on his head.
- Brock is a skeleton and is weaker to blunt force as a result.

Skills:
- One handed mastery.
- Ambidexterity.
- Botanical Engineering.
- Reattaching limbs.
- Writing
- Drinking

Weapons & Equipment:
The Shroomblade
The signature blade of Brock Sinclair, the Shroomblade is the cross beween a rapier and a backsword. The history that Brock and the Shroomblade share has enchanted the sword, causing it to do more damage to those of a demonic nature.

Unleash
The name given to the sword granted to him by Hohenheim. It has similar markings to the weapons that Iona uses, and the only information the swordsman was given about it was that it would become lighter if the swordsman were to succumb to his bloodthirsty desires. It often stays behind, as Brock is afraid of what would happen if he actually used it in a battle.

Cyber Sword
A spadroon of machina make, the Cyber Sword has a plasmatic edge on the blade that allows it to cut through armor with lessened difficulty. The unique material used to create the blade is lightweight, allowing it to be swung faster than a normal sword, and it is incredibly resistant to the point where it's nigh-indestructible.

Shooting Star
The Shooting Star is an external shield modification equipped on Brock. While charged, it will provide solid defense from any sort ranged attack until it depletes from overuse, then it must wait about 8-10 seconds to fully recharge. While depleted, however, any melee attack from Brock will cause a star to fall from the skies at breakneck speeds, slamming into the opponent and dealing quite a bit of extra damage.

Botanical Weapons

Freshmint - A minty plant that releases a relieving pollen cloud that cures who/whatever is within the cloud's AoE of any ailments inflicted in the battle. Cloud grows in proportion to the amount of nearby plants.
Mockrose - A porous purple rose genetically engineered to act similar to Victoire's, these roses emit a less-dangerous fume that, when inhaled, weakens the afflicted, with the degrees of weakness varying on how apparent the fumes are. These roses, however, do not require blood to stay alive.
Mineshroom - A relatively small mushroom, emblazoned with a purple-on-green palette, that explodes into a cloud of toxic fumes when people get too close. These fumes are slightly corrosive, and can eat away at armor and weaken the integrity of the armor.
Vulcan Yew - Bio-Engineered marvels from KC-00032, the seeds grow into miniguns that fire high velocity armor piercing rounds, capable of putting a nasty dent on armored enemies as well as poisoning them. Gifted by Eos after the Oblivion Dungeon.

Sample Post:

MORE CONVENIENCE!

The fungal skeleton stands over a grave, his knees on the ground and his hands on his lap. This was a grave he had to dig decades ago on that day that fate decided how he would spend his life. That day he wept tears of sadness and ultimate regret at letting his one love leave him at the hands of what used to be his old friend and leader. The one gift of hers to the world was his pet and child, and he promised to care for the pet until he could find a way to bring her back.

Months ago, he found out he didn't have to, as he decapitated the ghost of his lover with one chop of the cutlass he carried on him. The sadness was great, and while it brought Bonesword the sadness he had experienced once before, he was given hope that he might have a chance to reunite with his lover without succumbing to what made him what he is. He began to research into a way, and was fruitless in his tasks as a letter from his lover spelled out his sadness. She said for him to move on, not just for her, but for himself. It was time to let go and forget.

Here he was, over her grave, for what seemed like the last time for eternity.

A man walked over to the crouching swordsman and placed his hand on his shoulder. The man seemed like he was in his late seventies, if not older. The grizzly voice of the man called to the skeleton. "Paying your respects again?"

"Yes."

The man nodded as he stood there with the swordsman, his hands in his pockets and his eyes looking down at the gravestone. "... for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It is time for us to forget."

"Forget? She is what made you what you are today. She's the one that made all of us what we are today."

"She was."

"So why must we forget now?"

"Its time for us to move on, friend. You know this as well as I do."

"... I guess you're right, Bonesword."

"... Brock." The swordsman rose from his knees and drew the cutlass that beheaded his lover months ago.

"Brock?"

"Bonesword is not my name. It was Brock Sinclair before all of this started." The skeleton takes one last look as the grave before jabbing his sword into it and looking up at the sky.

"Brock, you're welcome to stay here. Might as well for a while."

"No," the swordsman states as he begins to walk towards the way he came. "I'm a soldier. I must return to my job."

"You're welcome here anytime, friend."

The skeleton turns around towards the man. "The village is now in your hands, son."

With his last words said, the skeleton turns back towards the way he came, and he begins to walk.

Other:
Theme - Katanatrousle

Charlie the Basilisk (FOLLOWER)

Name: Charlie.
Title: The Swordsman's Basilisk.
Type: Familiar / Pet.
Race: Plant Construct, Specifically Basil Serpent.
Age: Unknown.
Gender: N/A. Referred to with male pronouns.
Height: Varies. Normally has the diameter of 4 feet.
Weight: Varies.
Quantity: Solo.
Appearance: A large snake, made from basil and with varying different styles at his disposal. Normally seen with his master, but can be left alone for decent periods of time.
Powers:
- Demonic Detection : Can detect and differentiate demonic aura, but has no potency against demons.
- Form Manipulation : Can change form to accomodate larger sizes and different styles of combat at will.
Resistances & Immunities:
- Slight plant-based resistances.
- Can regrow if given time alone from combat.
Weaknesses:
- Incredibly weak to fire damage.
Skills:
- Digging
- Sensing Emotions
- Slithering Around
- Unhinging Jaws
- Dodging
- Propulsion out of holes at incredible speeds.
Weapons & Equipment:
- Anatomical Advantages : Large fangs, tipped with potent venom. Thorny spines along back. Solid tail able to dent steel if hit hard enough. Not much else aside from that.
- Dented Armor : Broken armor made way in the past, but does exist.
Other: Nothing Yet.

The War of the Three: Exodus

@KoL@TheWindel@Floodtalon
Edits have been made to the original CS, including a theme song.

The War of the Three: Exodus

Apia's Return

"Isn't it a fine day to swarm and crush?"

---

Name: Apia von Wingstar

Title/Epiphet: Hivemother, Buzzing Swarm, Heavenly Traitor, Mom

Allegiance/Faction: Hell

Race: Vampiric Queen Bee / Ascended Human

Age: Pretty Damn Old

Gender: Female (for the most part)

Height: 5'0"

Weight: Yes.

Backstory:
Not much is really known about the Queen in terms of her history prior, as the main extent was that she showed up in the Nexus one day and... asserted herself. What is known about her is that she's spent her last couple of centuries in retirement, trying to construct her own home within the confines of Hell. She tried to fight for the Heavens once, but was hastily casted out when one of her drones stung Deva's face. It was seen as an act of aggression on her part, and she 'retreated' to the confines of Hell as a suitable place to set up her home and domain.

In actuality, while everyone in Hell was fighting in Arcadia and such, she was being handled by Ira in multiple senses of the word..

Before all of that, though. As time passed, she began to become more and more tired of the same process every day. Building her home up was becoming repetitive, especially when you were only building it out of the same materials. She craved variety in her home, and there was one good way to get that variety. Coming out of her retirement to hunt for lands and new materials to construct her home out of. It was a risky idea, but then she remembered that there wasn't much penalty for dying in the Nexus, so she was ready to take on the world! Her home would be the finest in all of Hell- no, THE ENTIRE NEXUS!

Then Dana got involved and Apia became a vampire.

For the last bit of events within the Nexus, Apia has been doing a number of things. She's firstly and foremostly been working on her supply of vampiric bees, trying to turn them into ruthless and massive killing machines capable of actually hurting enemies, and she's also been trying to satiate her bloodlust as a new vampire. Needless to say, both have been going on swell for Apia, but not the residents of the dungeons of Hell.

Powers:
Queenly Majesty - Being the Queen Bee, Apia has distinct control over any bees or the like, often times turning them into her own minions and swarming her opponents with waves upon waves of pure torment and buzzy terror.
- Defend Formation - Apia directs her minions to a defensive form, maximizing the amount of damage lessened at the sacrifice of her own strength and mobility.
- Attack Formation Alpha - Apia directs her minions to swarm something or someone and accumulate a steady amount of damage onto the enemy, acting like a sort of poison (and as DPS). Alpha also has a slight edge over Beta, as it causes the target to become paralyzed in the main area of affliction (arms, legs, torso, etc. Combinations are possible).
- Attack Formation Beta - Similarly to Alpha, Beta is a direction of a swarm to encompass something/someone, but instead of doing steady damage, it does instantaneous damage. The damage output is ridiculous, but the cost of it is greater, ending up with hordes of dead bees and wasps afterwards. It's slightly unnerving for Apia to witness these bee dying.
Stinger Regrowth - Apia, unlike most other bees, does not die when her stinger is lost. It instead is regenerated through some form or another, and she is able to continue life like nothing happened.
Pollination - As a bee, Apia has grown accustomed to the many different varieties of pollen brought to her hive, and as such, she has grown into a resistance of it. Any adverse effects of pollen spread on a battlefield will not affect her (unless it is in very high concentrations or in major abundance).
Flight - She can fly using her tiny insect wings... or is it magic? Bees are too heavy to fly...
Newborn Vampirism - Bloodlust, blood drinking, you know the drill. Apia's trying to get a hold of it, spending a few hours every day simply in the dungeons of hell eating mooks and such, with the occasional actual-demon, but the dungeons can satisfy her for the time being, except on special occasions.
Portal Manipulation - Apia can create portals to and from the pocket dimension in the Honey Rod that allow her to expel more bees from it or allow her to enter it. It's not really an effective combat spell, so Apia uses it almost exclusively to go home.

Resistances & Immunities:
- Any attacks centered around swarms or insects have very little affect on Apia due to her own powers being very similar to that.
- As per usual, Demons have a specific resistance to the Machina. To what extent this is for Apia is currenly uncertain.

Weaknesses:
- If a large portion of her swarm in battle is slain, there is a very high chance Apia might break down and just cry. There's an equally likely chance she'll swear to kill you and maim your corpse.
- As a bee and by the laws of Pokemon, her abilities are significantly hindered in the presence of fire.
- From the new vampirism affecting her, holy attacks are more effective against her, and she counts as an undead enemy.
- Any blood based magic has more of an effect on Apia due to her vampiric abilities.

Skills:
- Apia is an accomplished mother and knows her fair share of mothering.
- Apia is an astounding knitter and crocheter.
- Beekeeping is a must-have for her.
- She is able to hold a place of nobility and she can keep that.

Weapons & Equipment:
Stingers - They're stingers the size of shortswords, capable of being thrown like javelins and able to poison like darts. That's a deadly combination.
The Honey Rod - A magical wand, this weapon is capable of dispensing high amounts of bees and wasps within a very short amount of time, giving Apia a near-limitless supply of her ammunition. If the rod is seperated from her for too long, it will start spewing bees out without any orders, making them hostile to anyone around. It is similarly Apia's own pocket dimension of sorts, and she has access to it in more distinct ways than one. It's her home, and she's always carrying it around. (All subtypes of bees are categorized separately)
Scarf of the Ancients - A rather ordinary shawl given a very unique name. The best thing about it is that it's fireproof and unable to burn, but it doesn't protect the user's entire body when worn.

Sample Post

An Unexpected Interaction

A collaboration between Lmpkio and Gardevoiran

The dungeons of Hell were becoming more and more vacant as the minutes passed, the very faint sound of bees buzzing through the halls and halls of the dungeon, blood littering the floor in splotches and drops. Pools had existed, it would seem, but they had long been dried up by the time that had passed. Either that, or by the actions of one specific newborn vampire.

"Ahh~" Apia said as she arose from another carcass, the cell they had been contained in opened and the victim within it drained of all blood. "... the taste is fading, but it's more metallic than the last one." Apia had been eating residents left and right, but she made extra careful to not consume those that had been required to be captured. Only the ones long forgotten by society and those that could be cared less about. A crimson beard flowed around the bee's mouth as she stood, wiping the liquid from her mouth.

However, her unquenchable bloodlust did not go completely unnoticed. By sheer dumb coincidence, the Ice Lich Ghelgath had just reached the dungeon for a simple visit to a certain prisoner. He was a captive of a recent conquest, a banker that owes him money. It wasn't even that much, just a mere gold coin in fact after he forced the captive to swallow it as a joke. This was only 5 hours ago and he's running late to see him, hoping he wasn't excused to take a shit before he can gut him like a pig with an icicle and retrieve it from his gut. He just hopes he's still in his cell since he was locked up here. Yet as he approaches his cell door, he sees the entire hallway soaked in blood. Not only that, most of the victims seemed to look completely white, as if all of their blood had just been drained from their body.

"Jeez." Ghelgath sighs as he begins to approach the banker's cell, "Sure hope Mr. Moneybags didn't give Dracula a tip to avoid extraction day or somethin'."

As he opens the door, he sees the banker, drained nearly to the bone with blood smears streaking the walls. The lich hurries over to his corpse and checks him throughly for the ingested coin. To his dismay, the coin was nowhere to be seen. He hisses in defeat as he gives a good kick to the banker's ribs, breaking a rib in the process before walking out back into the halls. But never mind the coin, what kind of maniac decided to go for a mass blood transfusion? And why here out of all the places?

"Ghelgath?" Apia's voice choked out when she heard the voice of the lich. This was going to be... difficult to explain in the very least. The bees within the dungeon all swarmed into the Honey Rod as she began to wipe the blood off her face hurriedly, trying to cover her evidence of her actions here. She liked the lich, and she knew that the relationship would be short lived if he found out that she was the one to give all of these people a good suck.

Ugh. Thinking about that innuendo gave her a bad taste in her mouth. Maybe that was just the blood of that banker though, she didn't know it for sure.

The voice followed by an intense sound of buzzing wings grabbed the cold lich's attention as he looks to see the Bee Queen running down the dark halls with her worker drones to greet the ice lich. And what's she doing here? Did she happen to do this by any chance? And if she did this, why the hell did she even conceive of doing it here? The next battle was supposedly taking later tonight, just long enough for a bloodthirsty murder to resist the temptation of going on a murder spree.

"Apia?" he asks confusingly as he takes another glance at his surroundings, "The Hell are you doing here? Did you happen to make this big ole' mess?"

"W-what? Me? N-no I didn't, I came in here and f-ACK!" Apia's speech was interrupted by the sudden cough, rocketing a gold coin directly at Ghelgath's chest. How in the world did that get inside her? Was it... she probably got way too into the eating of that banker. Gross. Gold was not as edible as blood.

Apia's face was reddened by the sudden appearance of the coin, and her embarrassment was emphasized further by her hands shooting up to cover her mouth out of shock. Apia's eyes were wide as she looked back at Ghelgath, unsure of what was coming next.

Ghelgath stares down at what the bee coughed up and bends down to take a look. Unsurprisingly, it was just as he thought. A gold coin. But was it THE gold coin that the banker swallowed? He inspects it carefully, inspecting every detail, scratch, and dent to make sure if it really was it. And sure enough...

It was!

He looks back at Apia in slight disbelief, but rather of horror he was more so impressed as he raises an eyebrow and nods. An innocent looking bee like her did this? Well then. There was only one possible answer he can give to this situation as Ghelgath flips the coin randomly with his thumb.

"You know I'm not even mad." he bluntly replies as he places it in his pocket, "I'm actually quite impressed. I thought I'd be seeing more, puffy-faces and oozing puss rather then blood-sucking and gore-splattering."

The Lich takes a quick glance behind him before turning around.

"How many did you kill already?" he simply asks the bee with nothing else to say.

Apia looks down the hall before lowering her mouth to count, fangs poking out slightly from her mouth. "... I lost count...." That was honest truth. She was being blinded by hunger to the point where counting was foregone in exchange for satisfying her hunger pains. Did it work well? Absolutely. She had to have gone through at least fifty prisoners before Ghelgath entered. Hopefully Rufus or Ira doesn't see what happened here. They might be livid at Apia... or... maybe they wouldn't. This was hell, after all.

"... I feel unclean... but I feel so pure now. Like one of those... things in the Machina... what were they, virgins? Like a re-virgin thing?" She couldn't figure out what she was trying to stay, and ended up just stammering. "Why do I feel this way...?"

The Ice Lich scratches his head as he continues looking at the absolute carnage down the hall. She definitely must've murdered a good chunk of the prisoners in this section before he arrived. And RILD will not be pleased with such a mess going uncleaned... in fact, weren't they going to do a prison inspection here today before the battle? If he's found here, he's also going to get blamed for this entire thing alongside the obvious culprit. He gives an audible groan as he signals the bee to come.

"Well I'm sure as Hell aint gonna be cleaning this mess up." he mutters as he walks up the hallway, "Apia, I know an emergency exit at the back of the facility. RILD is gonna be inspecting this place any second now, and if you don't wanna take responsibility, I'm giving you the chance to escape janitor duty. Follow me."

"Right behind you," Apia said as she grabbed her Honey Rod and began to float behind Ghelgath, carefully looking behind the duo as they continued. All things considered, the dungeon was mostly clean, save for the bodies and the specks of blood, but there was no confirmation that the specks were actually from Apia's doing or from the past. Hopefully they would be treated as if they were from the past. The only real risk is Dana speaking up about the gift she gave Apia, but it seemed like Dana wouldn't do that. She might just keep it a secret and watch her boyfriend squirm out of ignorance and fear.

On the other hand, the cold blood of a lich was... tantalizing and close. Super close. Super tantalizing. Apia's head began to gravitate towards Ghelgath's neck before she pulled her head away with a grunt, resisting the urge to go down on Ghelgath and take his frozen blood as a quick treat. There would be time for that later, most likely.

Plus, it had time to freeze into a tasty snack. A popsicle made from chilled iron and meaty blood. Mmm...

Eventually, the two were able to reach the emergency exit and leave the prison complex. Now standing beside a platform overlooking a small hill that reaches down to the main path, Ghelgath relaxes briefly as he wipes his forehead in response to the intense rush of heat. He turns to face Apia regarding the situation.

"Ok," he begins after smacking his lips and pointing towards the trail, "Now that we're out, just walk down the hill and head to your right where you'll see a bridge. It leads to the main trail and you'll find yourself back at the castle or something, wherever you feel like being at. See ya later, I guess."

With that, he begins to walk down the platform.

"T-thank you... and goodbye..." A small portal, barely enough for Apia to comfortably get into, opened below her as she began to fly downwards into the Honey Rod's Pocket Dimension, conveniently known to her as 'Home'. As her midsection grazed the border between home and Hell, a hand raised up to sign a phrase, a very soft smile appearing over Apia's face as she did it. It would cheesily read 'I love you' before Apia flew down into the rest of the portal, it disappearing behind her.

Whether the sign language was genuine love or simply a way for her to say how enticing her treat was, it was uncertain. Apia didn't know the answer to that herself. On one hand, Ghelgath was a fine man, if not a bit cold and unfeeling, but at the same time, the scent of his frozen life stung Apia's nose sharply as if she needed it in her life. It was astoundingly mind-numbing and she loved the smell of it among other things about Ghelgath. Despite the frozen heart he had, there was an actual man in there.

And Apia was now dedicated to trying to free it, for her and for them.

Mainly for her.

Other: Optional. Anything else you can think of, like a theme song, some trivia about their personality/history/quirks/etc., and whatnot goes here.

I mulled again. I return with Apia first, then other characters depending on how well the next battle goes.

Review plox. I'll have the hider for Apia's special bees up later for review.

Reign: Kingdom Come

Lorenzo of Windor

---

... what just happened? The world seemed to become distant for a moment. Maybe Loretta was right. Maybe the depression was causing Lorenzo to space out for a few moments when it did.

"Lord Favian," Lorenzo started with a tone of slight wonder in his voice. "I request that you show that document at a speed that we can actually read it at." This man was quite one indeed. Waving his damn proof around so fast that you can't even tell if it's real or not. Something was amiss and Lorenzo was skeptical about this ordeal, and that's putting it lightly.

Martyrdom on the other hand was quite pleased with Col's affection being shown to it. His special spot was scritched and he loved scritches in that spot. That man was a good man to go to for the good scritches. Maybe the other man was good too? Martyrdom walked over to Bastian before doing the same thing, looking up at the man with a tilted head and wondering if he would get scritches as good as that from this man as well.

The Narrow Path

"You know this about him with having known him for three days?" Jen asks before she just shrugs it off, positioning herself in front of the entrance to the thing.

Until you get closer, the distant yet pungent smell of cheap alcohol runs under your nose as a green light explodes from the inside of the area ahead. Something's going on.

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

@Sickle-cell
Wait how off was my timing...

THIRTY SIX MINUTES.

I WAS OFF BY SIX MINUTES.

GAH.

Worm - The Malfesant Throne

Anomaly

Xoxi's Super Cool Fortress of Awesome

---

"... I have faith in the opponent, what was his name, Gamble?" Xoxi said after a few seconds, trying to raise her hood over her head before realizing that she couldn't actually do that because her hoodie was gone. Where the hell did the Protectorate put that? Probably in her room, actually. That would've made sense.

"If we do need to mobilize, I need to get my hoodie. I can't be Anomaly without it... or myself, now that I think about it.." The labcoat was working well for the time, but that's because Xoxi didn't have anything else nor was she motivated enough to go and find her hoodie. She really just wanted to finish expelling the trash emotions from her head. Turns out, they still were around in the very back, but it didn't hurt enough to interfere with her normal life. Normal was a heck of a word to describe it, though.

The Crucible - Winner Take All

Bonesword - Onwards! To Pithy!

"Alright. I'll hopefully see you guys around," Bonesword said as he jumped up onto Charlie's back. With a wave towards his newfound acquaintances, Bonesword turned and began riding off towards the only place his next target could be heading for. The ominous building in the distance. Hopefully nothing went wrong on his way.

Meanwhile, on the back of Charlie, Bonesword gripped his own phylactery as he made a request into it. "Hey, whoever is running this tournament? Can I get a hotline to my next opponent, please?" Bonesword has no other choice. He needed to find his opponent as quickly as he could if he was to try to earn their trust. Given the place he was in, this could be a bit of a struggle to convince who they were to cooperate for the long run. Especially if they had made any team members on their path to victory.

Bonesword could only hope they didn't.