CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

eXo Vs. Shakan'Dar

The Cosmic Hub


Prelude

It lies beyond the stars into the vast unknown. Only those who could understand its power can collaborate with it. It is the everything where nothingness resides. It is the pallet where versions of existence are created. It connects all the universes in existence together, it is called the Cosmic Hub. The top plane of existence where only the most powerful entities alive can venture. A plane of nothing but bright whiteness, in here power is unlimited if you can understand how which works both ways.
This is where everything that is everything is linked together. A nexus spanning out for all eternity, inside the hub you will only ever see white there is no entrance or exit for anything shorter than a god. This is where the architect has chosen for the finale of Kios and Shakan'Dar.

Battle

The architect had used his unknown power to casually remove his two victors from their previous duals, on a cruise across the stars. He did not instantly insert them into the Cosmic Hub, but rather dragged them through a long stunningly visual experience. He was in control of his players and would not allow harm to come to them on their journey to the hub, Passing them through the stars, nebulas, galaxies all the way to the outer most depths of imagination. Light glared and vanished from shining stars, comets hurlled through the vast gulf of space, super novas blew cosmic dust lightyears across, all the sights of the universe could be seen on this journey. The point being, the architect was trying to convey that the players were about to inherit universal powers and this would cast inspiration.
Finalling travelling across the galaxies all vanished, replaced with white all around. All three individuals had arrived in Cosmic Hub spaced evenly out. The architect of this tournament would now shed the reasoning so longed explained. Removing the hooded cloak and throwing it aside, the particles disintegrating in every direction. The face of the architect was seen, beautiful with bold green eyes. Long pitch black strands of hair lying over the face, his body covered in black clothing, hugely contrasted by the white backdrop. Kios would certainly not mistake him for anyone else than Travnia.

Welcome to my home, do not fear you can not die here. Within this channel you are invincible however your body is not unbreakable. Here anything is possible, watch...

Travnia raised his right arm and opened his palm stretching his fingers and apart. A small orange and blue aura built in his palm as sparks of light flew outward. The aura slowly evaporated revealing the matter it had left behind. In the palm of his hand Travnia had created an entire galaxy, swirlling anti-clockwise in orbit of his hand. Relentlessly Travnia closed his hand crushing the galaxy into nothing, shards of light sparking out of his hand. Travnia opened his hand once more to reveal nothing, before placing his arm by his side. His face expressionless as his eyes peered through the black strands in front.

It's that easy. We shall see if you can do any better... This is your time to shine and reign supreme.

Travnia knew both players would not know fully how the Cosmic Hub worked, but the concept was easy enough; whatever you imagine is possible.
Travnia used his ability to bent and manipulate the matter of his own body to appear formless, vanishing from sight.

Now was the time and as much power as they wish was at their finger tips. As Travnia explained, the body can die but the 'soul' or conciousness of the players would remain, it was in that factor a winner would emerge.

Perhaps Kios would form an asteriod field to obliterate Shakan'Dar, or maybe Shakan'Dar would blast a wave of radiation at Kios. Nuclear power and viruses werent impossible maybe they would batter each other in those ways, or keep it simple using their combat techniques and weaponry skills. With all great attacks an equal fantastic defense must be sought. Everything was fair game.

One thing was for sure Travnia's involvment was not over yet...

[out of character:

• God Modding/Controlling of your opponents character is strictly forbidden.
• You both have 8 posts.
• Judges will be looking for good detail, good original attacks and defense, the ability to be fair and take your opponents damage.
• Any questions or confusion please PM me

This is the final for an FFE RP Champion thats why the battle appears vague. It is up to you to impress the hell out of judges and put forth why you should win. Awesome attacks arent the only way to win a match, the ability to capture someones attention is equally as important. Let's try make it a worthy final, good luck.]

Kios had been impressed by the journey to the Hub. He'd felt something familiar about it, but that probably had a lot to do with the star within him. He felt the galaxies wrap about his wrists and the comets carry his feet across the universe, taking in everything he could. His mind couldn't possible comprehend everything around him, but a good deal of it was noted as its amazing self. He hoped this was a preview of something to come; something he would either experience or become part of. His reign in Hell was something, but this had put that into a dull glow and left room for hunger; hunger to take control of it all and do as he wished.


Slowly he entered the Hub, finding himself untouched as though his battle with Gareth hadn't taken place at all. There were two there with him, and Kios didn't know if he would have to fight both or one of them. Perhaps they were both against him. Perhaps he and another were taking on a third. He was ready to attack as soon as the first move was made.


But that move wasn't a threatening one; rather the dismissal of a black cloak. As clearly as night follows day in the mortal realms, Kios recognized Travnia as soon as the garment was shed. He felt sure in that moment that he would finally get his opportunity to fight the man. Their twisted Valhalla had been torn apart and the battle had never been finished. But as soon as Kios had started thinking about what could transpire between Travnia and himself in a place like this, the tall man had created and crushed a galaxy within a few seconds, and it was obvious to the ogre that Travnia had been the man behind all of this. Before he had a chance to call him out, he disappeared and explained the rules.


'Rules' was a loose term, but the address was stiff and certain:


Shine.


Kios felt the place out a little bit. He knew that the architect had meant what he said about it being as easy as it looked, but he felt like he should test it for sure. He concentrated hard on the apparition of a step in the air in front of him, and it materialized as he'd imagined it: ugly, black, and prominent in the environment. He stepped onto it and it held. The ogre thought less and less of it, and he watched it fade beneath his feet until it disappeared completely and he landed softly where it had been. He took a run into nothingness and stepped onto another one, thinking only briefly about where he was and moreso on the next step, and each fell below him as he stepped higher and higher. Only he knew where the steps were -- for they were his and would be where he needed them. He dreamed of a staircase to bring him back to where he'd first started, in front of his opponent, and it was there as calmly as he could've asked.


Kios was feeling the power, and he was feeling it rather quickly. He tilted his head back and withdrew the Sword of the Hellions again from where it rested, imagining his own cloak into one of white ( so he might not be so easy to see ) as he did so. He'd always been a dreamer and a visionary, and finally the meeting of his two passions ( the other being, of course, warfare ) could take place as perfectly as he'd ever wanted them to. "My name is Kios Saia," he said to the other man. "I feel I should tell you that, as I know this man -- the architect of such a place -- in some strange, small way, and I feel he would approve of a bit of chivalry before we try to tear each other into pieces. I wish you the best, yet I wish myself better."


A bright rope of light snaked from his sleeve and wrapped itself around his sword, encasing it in what was nothing less than a holy aura. Kios planted one foot and took a hard swing as his opponent to test the other's readiness, extending the length of the blade as he did so.


If Kios had his way, that would be far, far less impressive than anything else he did in this place.

Shakan'Dar marveled at the galaxies and stars he saw as he swept above them, below them, and even through them. He was unharmed by the ordeal, and in fact, found that his previous injuries were also gone. Even his cloak was back, and it was devoid of blood stains.

He landed in the cosmic hub, feeling a little cheated that the one who appeared to be his new opponent seemed to know the creator of the arenas. As his opponent decided to test the constraints of this strange environment, Shakan'Dar decided to also. He pictured his previous opponent standing before him, and also the shadow vortex he had used. They appeared before him as real as if they were there, and he imagined the previous opponent being sucked into the vortex and torn to shreds. Shakan'Dar smiled as he let the vortex disappear.

This arena would be most satisfactory. Because his opponent had the grace to provide a name, Shakan'Dar did also. "I am Shakan'Dar, and I don't know how you are acquainted with our host, but that will not save you."

As his opponents clothes turned white, Shakan'Dar fixed an image in his head, an image that was much more comfortable to him. Suddenly the entire environment around them turned black, and now it was Shakan'Dar who had the advantage of camouflage. His opponent was clearly contrasted, and Shakan'Dar drew his black sword, sheathed it in crackling black lightning with a mere thought and brought it up to meet his opponent's blade. They clashed with a resounding boom, and Shakan'Dar strove against his enemy. Shakan'Dar had a devious thought, and if it worked, he would probably take his opponent completely by surprise. He imagined himself behind Kios, and as suddenly as he thought it, he was there. He wasted no time in trying to bring his sword down into Kios' back, his sword crackling as it trailed downwards......

Kios didn't expect his "knowing" Travnia to save him. Whatever relationship they had wasn't anything near friendship as it was, and he really doubted the tall, dark man was going to start playing favorites in such a situation. Kios also wondered briefly what kind of name Shakan'Dar was, but he didn't let it get to him; it was not the time for juvenile name-calling. He had to take it as seriously as he could if he wanted to survive this place.


Suddenly the place was dark again, and Kios knew he was radiating white. Before he had a chance to fix that, Shakan'Dar's blade came to meet his own, and the ogre felt a definite drive in the other's strike. He met it with equal force, holding his opponent off without too much of a problem, and then the other disappeared. Had it not been for the crackling of the blade, Kios might not have heard the other behind him, but he squeezed the panel in his left hand and disappeared from view instantly. He didn't always need these fancy Cosmic Hub tricks to do things like that. From his alternate plane, he saw the blade pass cleanly through where he would have been standing, and he moved a good distance away.


He wondered how either competitor would be able to actually get in a strike if they both had the power to do anything they wanted, and something Gareth had said came back to him. It was strange for him to take the man's advice, but Kios knew that this would take cunning and strategy instead of the brute force he had come to accept as the best way to battle. He would need to outsmart this Shakan'Dar on many levels if he wanted to get in a solid strike. Even if they could both do nearly anything they wanted to, they certainly couldn't see everything at once. Some characteristics were sure to stay with them through this.


Kios immediately ( hoping to catch the other before he recovered too much ) imagined a black-clad copy of himself into the scene, at Shakan'Dar's front. He himself slid back into the reality plane at the enemy's back.


The one in front drew his own gun and fired three rapid, energy-fused shots at his enemy, while the real Kios dashed for the man's spine with his sword, now devoid of the white light it had carried before. He made sure to keep low as to avoid any stray shots from the front Kios's gun. He didn't need to be going down over something stupid like that. At the last moment before he would strike, the ogre brought in one more copy rushing Shakan'Dar's right side with a blade, hoping to throw the man off and make him think that the last one was the real thing.



( EDIT: I'll be gone to Ohio for a few days, but when I get back on Sunday, I'll get right back here and on this. No worries. )

Shakan'Dar silently cursed as Kios disappeared and his blade sailed through empty air. He raised his blade again in readiness, and was surprised that his foe appeared in front of him. The now black clad enemy shot at him thrice with a gun, and Shakan'Dar imagined himself to the right of where he was as the bullets flew through where he had been. A split second more and he'd have been shot. He heard, rather than saw the true Kios behind him, and silently laughed. So they were to have a war of the copies were they? Shakan'Dar did not need the Hub's power to play that game. He turned to face the new threat and as he did, his cloak swirled and two copies of Shakan'Dar stood at his back. He swung his blade forward to meet the blade of the new Kios, and one of his copies moved to engage another Kios coming in from the side. The final copy moved to engage the Kios with the gun, and Shakan'Dar decided to even the odds a bit. He imagined his copy holding a gun exactly like it, and it began to fire at the gun wielding Kios. With all Kios' engaged his blade met the blade of the Kios before him.

Their blades clashed and he jumped back. He imagined a fiery box around Kios, just as he leaped back, and suddenly the Kios was surrounded in a box of pure flame. He then imagined the box full of shards of metal that would whirl around inside as they superheated. It was an improvisational blender, and Shakan'Dar was wondering whether it was just a copy, or whether he'd get to see a Kios smoothie come out the other end......

Kios had, unfortunately, been the one surrounded in flame. He dropped his doppelgangers outside of the box and pulled in on himself, thinking that Shakan'Dar would eventually have to drop the flames. And if he didn't, time would expire and a draw would occur, in which case Travnia would probably come back to try to eliminate one of them. . .and that was a meeting Kios definitely wanted to have with the other man.


No, he thought suddenly, your fight is not with him. If you're going to survive this, you need to forget about him and focus on the other -- on Shakan'Dar. He's the threat this time.


That's about when the metal started flying around, and as soft as it became in the heat, the piece that brushed over his arm was still fast and hot enough to cut through his cloak and slice down the length of his forearm. He pulled tightly unto himself, feeling a few more pieces nick his body, and bunched his cloak at his neck. He didn't dare look down, because he wasn't quite sure what would happen if he dipped his head too far down and it got too close to the black hole his cloak always hid, but it was something he didn't wish to test at this particular moment in time. The flying pieces of metal quickly disappeared into it and he let the cloak fall back into place, still surrounded in the semi-cocoon of flame.


He depressed the right-hand panel and thrust his hand forward, turning inside edge of the flames instead into ice. Outside, the fire appeared to still be burning at him, but he kept his hold on the ice as he took a moment to catch his breath. This was something he was perfectly able to do without the powers of the Hub. Kios picked his sword up from where he had dropped it to slide up his cloak, and closed his eyes to assess exactly where Shakan'Dar was outside of the box. Over the crackle of the flames, he thought he could feel where the other was, but at this point it was all guesswork. In one movement, he both froze the rest of the flames and thrust himself through the wall of ice toward where he felt Shakan'Dar was, shattering it. He was a little off in his estimate, so he readjusted his course and took a swing with his sword toward his enemy, hoping he might not notice the cuts along the ogre's arm.

Shakan'Dar's small smile was wiped from his face as the fire turned to ice and an enraged looking Kios erupted out towards him. Kios's arm was extended to attack, and Shakan'Dar noticed some gashes in it. Apparently this was the real Kios, because Shakan'Dar felt rather than saw the other images disappear. Shakan'Dar took a step back and raised his sword to block Kios's strike, but he had underestimated the speed with which Kios had emerged. His blade struck Kios's, but not enough, and instead of turning the blow completely, Kios's blade was just deflected to the side slightly, and Shakan'Dar grimaced as the blade grazed his side, and then came free as Shakan'Dar moved sideways to lessen the impact the cut would have.

He clutched the wound with one hand, and then an idea came to him. Could he use the powers of the Hub to heal a wound? There was no harm in trying. He thought of the wound as gone, but it only stopped bleeding. It seemed that the creator of this place would not allow them to heal themselves fully. Fair enough, otherwise it could well have been an eternal conflict.

Putting aside all thoughts of self preservation for the moment, Shakan'Dar refocussed himself on destroying Kios. He had an idea. In the journey to the Hub, Shakan'Dar had noted the destructive power of a floating field of large colliding rocks. Meteors, Travnia had called them. He called a field of these colliding rocks around Kios, distancing himself as the huge chunks of rock smashed into each other with explosive force, surely destroying anything caught within. Shakan'Dar was surprised to see an image of himself running towards him to escape the field, and then get smashed into the ground by a rather large meteor. He had completely forgotten about the images, but he gave a small laugh.

At least he knew the field did its purpose well.

Kios didn't like the idea of healing himself using the Hub's powers; somewhere within his plans of mass slaughter was a code of honor and chivalry, and it was bad enough that he was able to create and destroy galaxies within this place. If it came to it, though, he supposed he would need to use such a power to keep himself standing.


Suddenly there was a roar over his head, followed by a crash, and Kios looked up to see meteor chunks falling all about him, post-collision. He shielded his eyes in enough time to protect them, but more of them were approaching and he didn't like that idea at all. He'd had a lot of things happen to him, but being crushed by meteors didn't sound like a durability test he wanted to endure anytime soon. He tapped his left-hand panel and dropped a plane, now able to quietly observe what was flying around him. There was no rhyme or reason to the pattern of the meteors, as was apparent, but there were strays above that sped off harmlessly into the distance.


Re-implementing his invisible staircase test from the beginning of the fight, Kios created a circular one in his alternate plane that kept him out of harm's reach. He had his sights on one of the smaller rocks that was zipping over the battle, and became so enthralled in the idea that once he had gotten to an appropriate level to use it, he stopped thinking about the staircase and the pressure he had to keep on his panel. Quickly the world was real and fast, and he was dropping, though not much. A large meteor clipped his foot and sent him flying, confused, through the air, but in the direction of the meteor he had been aiming for.


He adjusted his trajectory and reached out, depressing his right-hand panel and throwing his fists into the side of the meteor. Grooves formed immediately, one for each hand, and Kios twisted himself to throw the meteor directly at Shakan'Dar at double its original speed. Kios held onto the opposite side for a moment, until he was out of the main asteroid field, imagining his broken leg as whole again ( he felt the bones set, but knew that it was still going to be sensitive and prone to another fracture. ) As soon as he was close enough to the ground and the meteor was close enough to his opponent, he thrust off of it, giving it a little extra speed, and flipped deftly to the ground. As he'd predicted, his leg nearly buckled and he had to wobble himself onto steady footing, drawing his sword from within his cloak.


He felt bad about using the realm to heal himself, but he wasn't going to go down on a broken leg.


Not wanting to always remain on the defensive, Kios concentrated the energy from his right hand into his sword, and suddenly three vines of energy snaked out from the end of it, thick like jungle snakes, whipping and curling around each other as they all sped toward Shakan'Dar. This was the same light energy that he had fired at the army of dead soldiers in the last battle with Gareth, obliterating some of them. One swipe of these had the potential to cleave a person completely in two, and now three of them were diving to strike out at Shakan'Dar.

Shakan'Dar smiled as he watched his meteor show, but then he noticed something odd. One of the meteors had begun to move erratically. It had changed direction and now sped towards him. He readied himself, with his sword raised, and in the last instant, a black dome expanded from his blade's tip and the meteor struck it. His arm was jolted back as it broke into a thousand small fragments. It may not have been particularly big, but it had been moving very fast. He worked his arm, trying to remove the numbness that had set in when the meteor struck.

It was instinct more than anything else that saved him. He knew Kios had been behind the meteor attack but had not noticed the subsequent energy attack until the beams were very close. He managed to fling himself to the floor, throwing the shadow dome above himself. One of the three beams struck and was dissipated. The second was also deflected, but that blow dissolved the shield. It had never been meant to stand up to so many consecutive blows. The third beam came down at Shakan'Dar and lanced through his thigh. He roared in pain, but quickly imagined his leg without the clean burnt hole in it. The wound instantly closed up, but his leg remained unresponsive.

Anger flickered across Shakan'Dar's thoughts. Usually, he managed to keep his emotions under control in a battle, but Kios had irked him too many times. He no longer cared that he had lost the use of his leg. He was in a realm where he could control anything with a very thought.

He looked over at where Kios could be seen standing, and yelled out to him. "I need no legs to move here!" Suddenly, Shakan'Dar rose up into the air, and as he did, a storm cloud seemed to form around him. The cloud was black as the darkest night, and flashes of green appeared within its depths. The cloud suddenly roared towards Kios. As it did, green lightning bolts arced out at him. From deep within the cloud, Shakan'Dar built up speed, his blade pointed at Kios's heart. At the final moment, the cloud burst open with a last flurry of lightning bolts, and Shakan'Dar rocketed forward at Kios, a net of glowing blue chains flying ahead of him. If Shakan'Dar had his way, Kios would soon be struck by the green bolts, snared in the blue net, and then impaled into the ground by Shakan'Dar's sword, which now had a menacing crimson tinge to it.....

Kios remembered thinking one thing before his battle instincts took over and made him move, and that was:


This guy's not ****ing around.


He would realize that in retrospect it was better that day, because he felt more honored when someone went all-out against him, but the ogre liked the occasional surprise as well. He just didn't know it sometimes.


He took each element separately. His gun found its usual grip in his hand, out of his cloak, and he squeezed the handle hard, trying to manipulate the lightning attacks. It worked to an extent; the lightning concentrated on the end of his gun, hard, so hard that Kios had to brace himself and push against the force. The gun itself was heating up quickly, and his inhuman sense of smell told him he smelled burning flesh. He concentrated some cold into the gun, wanting to make sure he didn't ruin it or the panel in his hand again, but he knew that hand would be hurting for quite some time. A few stray bolts crackled and dashed to his sides, striking dangerously closely, but he didn't feel any of them hit him. He didn't know about his gun, though.


Secondly came the blue net, and he had to think especially quickly, though not especially hard. Drawing forth something he hadn't called on in a long while, the back of his cloak suddenly burst open in a shower of black feathers as his wings quickly thrust themselves through, maneuvering themselves independently through the air ( for unlike bird wings, his were much thinner and longer, almost like an extra set of arms. ) Kios leaned forward and bent them in front of himself, shaking them so they caught the most of the net, and then threw it behind himself. Unfortunately, one of the chains had snagged around his arm, and it was also thrown backward with the net, leaving him wide open.


Wide open for Shakan'Dar's attack.


He could manipulate magic, but the blade rushing toward him was its own entity and he didn't really have a chance of messing with it. His left arm was also useless as he tried to wring it out of the net, which had also constricted around his wings above him. He gave up that for a moment, knowing he had to choose his battles, and squeezed the left panel. Time slowed everywhere, and while he could have used the delay to untangle his arm, he knew that Shakan'Dar would have as much time to think about what to do from there.


Impulsively, Kios willed a flash of bright light into existence, swinging it in the air and through his captured wrist. It burned like hell, as much as he'd thought it would, but time moved into full motion as he swung his new stump of a wrist, momentarily spraying blood until he imagined it closed, ahead of him, stepping to the side. Kios roared in pain as he felt Shakan'Dar's sword pass down his arm, cleaving it nearly down the middle, to the bone, lengthwise. He swept his other hand, still holding the gun, down the gaping half of his arm, closing the wound. It still hurt and was more or less useless, but he had a thin appendage he could still control the movements of.


The ogre lord took a moment to assess where he stood. His leg would hold, but it wasn't going to be up to the complete strain Kios usually put on it. His left-hand panel was stuck in the cold elemental, but it wasn't going to change the atmosphere in the Hub. He was working with a mangled less-than-an arm and his sword lay at his feet. His wings had sorted themselves out of the blue chain by now, and he willed it out of existence, but he knew Shakan'Dar would take the offensive before long.


Kios tucked his gun away and picked up his sword, thrusting it against his disabled arm, where it fused. He waved it experimentally and concluded that it would hold up to a full-power swing, but the big guns were out now and he didn't have the time to be going back to knives and daggers. Suddenly he turned on his enemy and held his hand in the air, the palm facing Shakan'Dar. The Hellion emblem suddenly burned to life and the air about them began to prickle with electricity. "This is the realm of the gods, is it not?" Kios said. "Then let them show themselves!"


He turned and threw the emblem off of his hand, into the air, where it enlarged and blazed in the darkness behind him. Above the sudden rumbling in the air, he yelled, "San Kalabaster, come to life!" Suddenly a tunnel of light shone behind the emblem and the ogre turned back around, something new in the way he carried himself. No longer did his arm or leg bother him, and it was quickly apparent just why. A ghostly San Kalabaster, father of the realm of Hell, thrust from the emblem behind Kios, riding on what was nothing short of a stallion of the Apocalypse. He was huge, ten feet in height at the least, and the muscles of his horse bulged in their ethereal light. The stallion reared for a moment and then charged, hooves thundering across the ground, kicking up a trail of electricity, and the entity met Kios' backside.


Suddenly Kios felt himself become a part of the ghost he'd called on. The sword attacked to his left arm changed into a flaming pike, scraping the ground as the horse thundered on. The image of San had been replaced by a very real Kios atop the beast, and he pointed his good hand at Shakan'Dar, releasing the energy from the afterlife communication in a wide, hot beam aimed at his enemy. He followed the very tail of it, leaping from the horse that swept close to the other man's side and disappeared into the distance, swinging his new, deadly, flaming appendage at the other competitor.


He hoped that Shakan'Dar might have a thought crossing his mind, along the lines of:


This guy's not ****ing around.