Cottonmouth

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

"Time to finally live up the title of Devourer." Nemo mused after he fired off the two blasts. He immediately charged a spell up in his bandaged palm. It manifested in the form of a festering black orb. He crouched down and slammed it to the floor of the ring as the two Tsukihi's rushed him. It quickly sprawled out like spilled black ink into a intricate magic circle on the ring in a short area around him. While most of it couldn't be made out, it could be seen that Nemo was standing in the middle of a large magic X that encompassed the whole circle.

For a second it seemed that Nemo had almost given up and was about to to take both attacks for the team. But the rather sinister smile on his face gave a hint that wasn't the case. As soon as Tsukihi and her clone came into range the circle briefly lit up and two peculiar sounds were emitted; a quick energy charge type noise followed by a shattering break. Almost like the spell itself had exploded with a bang. It caused a displacement in the air around it's range, the floor of the ring cracked and any metal below twisted and grinded.

The real virtue of the spell could be observed to anyone with a keen sense for mana. One of the Tsukihi's-the clone-was quickly torn to shreds and faded away towards Nemo. The only Tsukihi left was effected as well, most of her mana was immediately and violently ripped from her. With the clone out of the way Nemo was easily able to focus his energy on countering. Especially considering he strangely just received a considerable amount of mana back to his reserves from the spell he just used.

The Tsukihi attacking from the air at his head was the only one left. Nemo ducked under her to evade and slammed his open palm into her torso. He attacked her by resonating his raw mana energy out of his palm and into her body. It propelled her upwards towards the ceiling. Nemo followed up by shooting a magic blast upwards towards Tsukihi as she ascended. It didn't hit her, but instead sped past her and hit the ceiling, engraving an X shaped rune on it. Nemo outstretched his arms and fell backwards in a trust-fall like way. Just before he hit the floor he faded away into a distortion like effect and emerged out from the rune on the ceiling. Nemo twisted himself around and faced Tsukihi just as she reached her arc. He latched onto her from behind with a firm grip and caused them both to spiral into a head dive back to the floor of the ring. They accelerated quickly on the way down, spinning quite fast and emitting white magic trail as well. Nemo rolled out just before they collided, causing Tsukihi to take the hit right to her neck and back like an atomic powerbomb from hell.

The last thing that could be heard before Nemo finished his Izuna drop (and the fight) was his adrenaline filled laugh on the way down.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

"You copy yourself because you're too dull to come up with something original." Nemo chimed back as he prepared himself for their attack. He extended his arms out towards the two but criss-crossed them over into an X. After taking a second he fired off one blast from each of his palms towards the two. It made a loud screeching whistle as it flew through the air.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo returned the favor by drawing a similar circle in the air with his hand, topping his off with an X instead. "Fighting is art, if you don't care about art then how can you call yourself a fighter?" He asked as he put his palm behind the rune. It immediately expanded into a much larger magic shield, blocking and immediately absorbing almost all of the tendrils.

One passed by however, snaking around and heading straight at him. Nemo caught it with his bandaged hand, receiving quite the shock but not putting out much of a reaction. The X on his hand quickly absorbed the tendril right into his palm. "Pain is something I have learned not to fear, tell me Tsukihi, do you fear pain?"

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

@Prodigal Son

Nemo's head cocked to the side during Tsukihi's response. His pleasant attitude quickly changing to that of a scowl. "No, no, no, it wont do, the fear of losing someone is touching, it's compelling, it's beautiful. Art is beautiful, it makes me feel. But the fear of losing a battle... it doesn't inspire me. It's bland." He explained, not paying much attention to her movements. "Art isn't dull, art is spontaneous, not predictable." Nemo said, his gaze turning behind him. He used his empowered hand to grab onto Tsukihi's blade before it could reach him; somehow stopping her completely.

His touch immediately nullified any active magic energy within the blade. Nemo's firm grip on the sword kept her in place despite small cuts to his hand. "If your fear is weak, then you will only come to fear me instead." He finished, his tone becoming more grim. He immediately followed up with a heavy mana empowered kick at her left. The kick was made to bait out herbucklershield, and had enough concussive force behind it to still rattle someone through a block. His next move was to use his last free hand and blast her point blank with a strong pitch black X shaped attack from his bandaged arm. If it were to hit it had enough power to knock her half-way across the ring.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo braced himself against the buckler with his right shoulder, taking the hit with a audible "oomph" and getting sent backwards across the ring. He managed to keep himself upright in the air and landed on his feet, almost stumbling over as he slid to a stop from all the momentum he still had.

Nemo let out a small laugh and rolled the shoulder that took the hit around a few times. "That's better, put some feeling into it!" He said. "You fight better than the rest because you have a reason to fight me. You fear of losing your boss." He continued as he charged his right hand with energy and waited for her next move.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo hesitated to attack while she rolled. She was fast, and after the first attack it began to get hard for him to keep up with her. He was starting to feel rusty after all the years in prison, that's for sure.

"Not the pants!" Nemo thought as he saw her slash from the corner of his eye. He jumped up and over the blade just in time for it to miss. He was left suspended in the air after the jump, leaving him wide open and probably about to pay a price for saving his trousers.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Tsukihi's rush, while quick, was easily predicted by Nemo given the spell cast at her feet. He crossed his arms into an X shape, creating a flat magic shield to block her swing; it immediately faded afterwards. After that he swiftly made a grab at one of her legs as she flew past him. If he were to catch her he'd immediately pull her back and slam her to the floor.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo seemed overly calm despite Raiya's threats. Oncoming mortal danger seemed to be almost commonplace for him at this point. He took the time to further analyze her. The pieces of the puzzle were falling together, reaching an apex when a peculiar smell hit Nemo's nose after focusing on his senses; her breath smelled like alcohol.

"She's wasted." He thought, almost grinning.

It all made sense now, her sloppy looking fall, Tsukihi's comments, and Raiya's increasingly audacious and impaired way of speaking. "Here I thought girls were supposed to smell like flowers." He mumbled to himself, probably loud enough for the two in the ring to hear.

"So you want to kill me then if you win?" Nemo asked. "Sounds good." He said plainly. "Though If I'm not being too bold, I might suggest for you to rethink your choice of fighter. Tsukihi here tells me you haven't been feeling well, I'd hate to fight someone when they're not at their best."

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo palmed the dagger attached to the back of his belt as the woman spawned weapons and looked ready to charge. However before a fight could start the abrupt entrance of Raiya postponed it. As she spoke Nemo ran the same tests that he did Tsukihi earlier; this was the person he was looking for. She had the coolest jacket of all the people he had fought that night, only someone with fashion sense that good could have put together this club to him.

Nemo was still trying to piece what Tsukihi had meant when she said the boss wasn't feeling well. Something was definitely off with what had happened so far. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it yet.

"I had always hoped they'd call me Smiley. Sadly that one wasn't as popular..." He commented. "Himself? I don't know if that's the term I'd use. You can't forget Garvian and the scores of men he brought with him." Nemo remarked. "Though I suppose Felix was the only one left that could pull his weight."

"Good question, I've recently been tasked with a new mission. The details I can't really share here, but that's not important yet. You see, I've done a lot of jobs by myself, and that little stay at Mamertine was more than enough for me to realize... I need a partner. Or a bodyguard, if that's what you want to call it. The point is that things will be a lot more entertaining with a plus one at my side to shake up the routine. That's where you come in." Nemo explained.

"For beating thing one and thing two here I want to raise the stakes in a little wager. I'll fight anybody here you choose, if I win, you work for me and have to do what I say until my job is done. If I lose, I'll do whatever you want." He finished.

Paragon's End [Modern/Fantasy/Anime/Adventure]

Nemo let out a grin at Tsukihi's proposition. "Well, that's mighty considerate of you, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist... I suppose I might have phrased it wrong." He said, scratching his head. "I'm not here to see your boss, I'm here to retrieve your boss. And I'm not leaving until she's coming with me, regardless of how well she's feeling." Nemo explained. "You're not going to make this difficult for me, right Tsukihi?" He finished.