Gilgamesh

[Advanced] Seeking Passionate Writers for Persona Role-play

Hello there!
Status:Open!
About me
● I'm male, but I don't care what your gender is. I don't say that to be insulting, nor do I mean I don't care about you, but as long as you're literate, friendly, passionate about writing and put in effort when doing so, then we'll get along swell!

● My time-zone is Eastern Daylight Time.

● I'm a patient dude. I can wait quite awhile for your response, so take your time. With school finished I'm free as a bird, so if I'm feeling creative, you'll receive a response in a day, if not, expect it in two or three depending on the content. I guarantee you I'll tell you if I'm losing interest in the role-play and plan on dropping it. I ask that you do the same, and I'd appreciate you telling me ahead of time rather than without notice.

● I can write quite a bit depending on how inspired I am at the time and the situation. It can range anywhere between a single paragraph and ten. If it's dialogue and I'm not doubling, it can be quite short. If you'd like an example of my writing, you can go here: http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/296/posts/ic?page=1

● I have no limits. I'm a very mature person, and I can handle cussing, violence, gore and sex. However, I'd prefer if the role-play wasn't filled excessively with gore or smut if it isn't necessary. Also, as a place I, and many others, enjoy role-playing, I'd like to adhere to roleplayerguild's rules and take any mature content that we may have to PM if necessary.

● I'm cool with role-playing both male and females. I'll often, and definitely for my persona role-play, will triple and role-play many characters. If you can't at least double or role-play any other than your main, it would be in both of our best interests if you didn't get involved in this role-play.

● I'm interested in advancing my writing and pushing myself to new heights, which means I'll be exploring things I've never tried before. So, if you find anything in my writing, anything whatsoever, that you think I could improve on, go ahead and say something. You'd be doing me a favor, and I'd really appreciate it. I'm open to criticism.

● I enjoy fun. While I am trying to better my writing, I also role-play because it's fun, and since this'll be a Persona based role-play, I expect plenty of whimsy moments. Don't think this is all work and no play.

● I really enjoy romance in role-plays and would prefer to have it in this role-play as well. I prefer MxF, but I'm somewhat interested in trying out MxM and FxF.

● I enjoy OOC talk. I'd like that the OOC talk is handled in PM or the OOC section of our thread, but keep it out of the IC. Aside from that, I enjoy learning more about my role-playing partners and talking to them about not only the role-play, but how their day went and just life stuff. If you're not down with that, that's cool, we don't have to.

● I'll only be accepting one person for this Persona role-play. I'm not keen on doing multiple role-plays based around the same concept, so I'm dedicating myself to only one partner and Persona role-play at a time. So, just because you contact me and would like to role-play with me, doesn't mean I'll instantly accept you. I want to choose an appropriate partner for this, and I want to see what everyone has to offer and decide from there.

● I won't be accepting any other role-playing ideas. I have plenty of interests outside of Persona, but as of right now I'm not interested in exploring them. So please don't PM me and tell me you're interested in doing a role-play that isn't related to the Persona universe or its concepts.

● I prefer to skip character sheets and get right to it.

● I'd personally prefer to conduct our role-play in PM, but if you insist on a thread, that's cool too.

What I'm Expecting from You
● Advanced rules apply, which mean: Elevated standards. Advanced RP focuses on longer posts that include character development and elaborate plot development. Minimum 2-3 paragraphs per post.

● I'm looking for a partner. Not someone who'll just let me steamroll them with my ideas. I need someone I can bounce ideas off of, and who will contribute their own ideas, and help me guide the story. Someone I can talk to. I may have created the initial idea behind it, but I'd like the two of us to collaborate to progress it. Add your twists and turns and let your creativity flow. This isn't solely your role-play or mine, but ours.

● To make things easier, please send me a PM if you're interested in role-playing this Persona role-play with me. When you do, also send me an example of your writing and everything you expect from me and/or your limits, or anything you find necessary to tell me to ensure we have an enjoyable role-playing experience with one another.

● Familiarity with the Persona games would certainly help.

What to Expect From the Role-play
● You and I will, undoubtedly, change some aspects of the Persona universe to better capture the vision we have for the role-play. Many concepts will remain the same, including but not limited to shadows, personas, magic, but many more are subject to change, including the themes of Persona that some may not be used to. For instance, one my characters who's a persona-user isn't a teenager in high school, but a grown man. This doesn't mean your character or characters will have to follow suit, but just be prepared that this role-play won't strictly follow previous themes in Persona.

● We will be role-playing original characters. While I garnered immense enjoyment from all the characters of Persona 3 and Persona 4, I like to think their story is over, and that it's time for a new group of heroes to step in.

● This won't be an alternate universe. The Kirijo Group, SEES, and the Investigation Team all still exist and their actions continue to affect the world. However, whether or not their actions will directly affect our characters is yet to be seen.

● Our characters' personas will greatly affect them physically. Because of separation between story and gameplay in video games, especially in Persona, I'm giving our characters superhuman like qualities and the ability to summon their personas at any time. They can still die, of course, but they'll certainly be capable of dealing out punishment and taking tons of it. If you've seen Persona 4 Arena, think of the fighting that goes down there, but in the real world. With more explosions. Shit's gon' be hype.

● Our characters' abilities to summon Personas will be like that of the characters in Persona 2. For those who don't know, characters in Persona 2 were capable of summoning more than one Persona, unlike the characters (excluding Yu and Makoto) in the previous two installments to the series, who were limited to summoning Personas that belonged to certain Arcanas.

The Good Stuff: Persona Role-play
In the Windy City all is well, and humans remain blissfully ignorant of the shadows they cast and various personas they may assume. However, a mere glimmer threatens to reveal that truth with the emergence of extremely violent and unusually powerful individuals, who rip, rape and decapitate their way throughout the city. Seemingly in response, a group of vigilantes, equal in strength, have taken up against them, but their drastic means of vigilante justice becomes increasingly compulsive and dangerous when they place innocents in harms way in an attempt to catch their depraved counterparts. With the police hilariously outmatched and the situation escalating to national panic, it is up to a new group of heroes to take up arms against this new threat.

Always Enemies ((FMN && Gilgamesh))

Benjamin shook his head and sighed, "Bugger. Now you got me feeling sorry for her. And you. I think I'll just pretend I didn't hear any of that. The rumors were nicer to listen to."

"That's... really sweet, Josh," said Dillon.

"'Sweet?'" said Benjamin, suddenly confused. "He has stuck by this angry, unappreciative bitch for three years. There's nothing 'sweet' about it."

"I think it's very commendable that he remained loyal to someone through thick and thin, actually," retorted Dillon, as she crossed her arms defiantly. "Especially to raise them higher. It's very selfless."

"It's very pathetic, more like. She has him by the balls."

Dillon shook her head and turned her attention to Josh, "Have you told her you switched sides to make her stronger? Maybe if you did, she'd respect and appreciate you more."

"Or you could just switch sides again and really show her to respect you. She's pissed at you right now 'cause you nearly killed her, aye? Think of what you can do in a real fight. She'd see what she really lost then."

"That's guaranteed to ruin their relationship."

"Maybe a good thrashing and ripping is exactly what she needs."

Always Enemies ((FMN && Gilgamesh))

Benjamin and Dillon turned to see Lydia storm through the house and toss a bowl of cheese at Josh. Benjamin erupted into a fit of high-pitched laughter at the sight, keeling over as he clutched his stomach. A look of sympathy formed on Dillon's face as she watched Josh fumble both with Lydia and cheese crackers. Servants' muffled their laughter, as others mumbled angry obscenities under their breath at their hard work being callously tossed around.

"Fuckin' supes," one servant grumbled, "always ruining work everyone else has done."

"Think they can do whatever they want just 'cause they're 'special,'" another murmured.

After composing himself from his laughter, Benjamin waved away Josh's apology. "Don't worry about it, mate. If there's anything I've learned, it's that problems are easily fixed when you can throw money at it. This works especially for women," he said with a wink and nudge of Josh's arm.

Dillon rolled her eyes, "I don't think Steelia is the type to be appeased by money," she said before shifting her eyes over to Josh. "If you want to fix this, you should just let her cool off and apologize later."

Benjamin shook his head, "I bet you've been suffering her lashing for awhile, haven't you? How far has just apologizing gotten you? Listen, mate," he said, putting his arm over Josh's shoulder, "I've heard... 'talk' of why you're Lydia's sidekick. Quite romantic."

Dillon quirked an eyebrow at this, "Wait, what?"

"Romeo here switched from hero to sidekick to get close to Lydia. How has it worked out for you so far?"

Always Enemies ((FMN && Gilgamesh))

Adrian soared into the portal, the black abyss surrounded him and expanded infinitely upon his return, and the light from the exit shined brightly into the blackness like the end of a long tunnel. The white streams of light passed him in a mere haze as he flew out the portal's exit. He crashed onto the pristine floor face first; a mere grunt left his throat before his feet dropped to the floor behind him. "Argh," he groaned, attempting to sit up, "son of a bitch."

"And he sticks the landin'. I expected you to be longer than twenty minutes, though," a voice to his left said.

"That makes two of us," Adrian rose with quivering body and hands as he rubbed his aching face.

"What happened?"

"I lost.”

"I could’ve guessed that, considerin' the way you caught your fall with your face," Medic’s eyes scanned Adrian. "Aside from the fall, you don't seem injured, although…” he said as his eyes looked him up and down.

"Yeah, turns out I didn't need you anyway," he turned and walked toward the door to leave, but was stopped by Medic.

"Hold your horses, boy. You have hypothermia and need treatment. Come on, off to the bathroom. You'll have to get warm, so you'll have to take off those wet clothes, and I think I can find some spares for you to wear while I find some towels to dry and warm you up."

Adrian raised an eyebrow at this as he turned toward him, “That was a pretty quick diagnosis, and you didn’t even ask me how I was feeling.”

"One of my many gifts, now go and take off your clothes.”

Dillon, her room in Benjamin's mansion

Dillon rubbed her aching eyes, "Dammit. I can't do anything." Dillon sat in the chair in front of the desk in her room. Multiple tools such as pliers, a screwdriver, and a C.A.M. laser laid sprawled out around the metal boots. The metal soles of the boots had been removed, revealing a series of wirings and smaller tubes of blue liquid that coursed hurriedly back and forth through them.

"The boots lack the propulsion power and capacity to properly propel me in the air for extended periods of time. If I make them any larger to make more room for the ignition liquid, the metal would be too heavy for me to fly properly. I need another propulsion source."

She stood up, her chair moving back as her legs straightened. She stretched her tired arms and legs and yawned, "I was going to ask Benjamin for money since there's only so much funding S.U.P.E.S. can give me, but it felt... weird asking him," she sighed as she ran her fingers through her red hair. "I wonder what's going on in the mansion..." Dillon opened the door to her room and closed it behind her as she walked into the hallway. The hallway was decorated with paintings ranging from bland, odd and disturbing to beautiful, colorful and mesmerizing. There was always something to catch the eye, but all for different reasons.

As Dillon walked along the hallway, taking in every painting she passed, she reached the stairs that led to the first floor of the mansion and living room. Descending the steps and walking into the living room she immediately saw servants dashing and hurrying in front and behind her. Furniture was positioned all around the massive eighty inch television screen, turned to a first person shooter, ready to be played. Multiple counters had been set with various snacks and beverages, and behind them stood servants ready to serve anyone who came to them.

Dillon turned to the left and walked out into the sparkling white grand hall with towering, white pillars. Above Dillon loomed a massive, sparkling, and immaculate chandelier from the tall ceiling, and the countless, clear diamonds reflected the pure white tile floor. A pillar of large, white balloons tightly hugged the otherwise empty walls next to the wide, spiraling staircase, which was an alternate route to the second floor. To the side and out of the way rested a DJ's booth where the faint sound of remixed music could be heard. "Whoa. He's really going all out this time."

"I was hoping you'd wear something different than your usual," a voice said to Dillon's right. She turned to look at Benjamin who was clad in a white dress shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, and a grey vest with white dress pants and shoes.

She looked down at her blue tank top, jeans, and sneakers then back to Benjamin, "Sorry to disappoint you, but this is way too comfortable to change,” just then a tray of orange and bubbling alcohol passed them, filled to the brim in clear wine glasses. “By the way, have any of the teachers or the headmaster… said anything? About the parties, I mean."

"Nope. Humans tend to stay away, except for the ones who work here, of course, and they won't complain to the school considering what I'm paying them. My mansion is also pretty isolated, so no one will be bothered by rowdy teens. And with the whole, 'Don't engage or inflict bodily or mental harm to your fellow Supes outside of supervised training and battle,' which - surprisingly - everyone follows, so they don't seem to care."

"And you serving alcohol to minors?"

"Human cops turn a blind eye when I throw good ol' Benjamin and Grant their way," he said as he held out his hand, and in the palm of it a green hundred and fifty dollar bill materialized. "Funny how easy it is to manipulate humans with money."

Dillon raised an eyebrow at this.

"No offense."

"Yeah, yeah. So, when is the party suppose to start?"

Benjamin pulled back his sleeve and looked at the watch on his wrist. "Forty-five minutes."

Compliment the person above you

I like your signature, and think you're pretty cool from what I've seen of your forum posts.

Always Enemies ((FMN && Gilgamesh))

Aserathia, Abaddon and Strength

Rock and snow flew wildly in all directions upon Strength’s downward punch into the top of the mountain. Adrian jumped back and covered his face as the debris of rock flew around him. Adrian’s black boots crunched as he landed in the snow and huffed, his white breath floated upwards and body violently shook.

“Guess I know why they call you Strength.”

Strength scoffed at this. “For supposedly the brightest of Adramelech’s children, you seem completely oblivious to the larger picture.”

“Larger picture? What’d you mean?”

“If memory serves me, little Sumner, you have an opponent who specializes in ice,” said Strength as he removed his left fist from the crater he created and stood to his full seven foot frame. “At this rate, she’d have your head.”

Adrian’s eyes widened at this, “What? How do you know of Khione?”

“Your father has Eyes everywhere.”

Adrian scoffed at this, “He doesn’t contact me for four years, but he’s watching me? For how long?”

“There isn’t much information your father tells me, but I’d guess for those four years.”

Adrian slowly flexed his stiff and numbing fingers around the grip of the broadsword. “Damn. I can’t take this much longer,” he thought. “But he tells you enough that you know about Khione and her abilities.”

"Look at you, little Sumner, proving your intelligence. Bravo," he said flatly, before turning his back to him. "You can concede now before I do any real damage. You’re quick, quick enough to evade my blows, but there’s no escaping winter’s cold grasp. Return when you are better equipped,” permitting the dual to end. Adrian's grip around the handle of the sword tightened as his brows furrowed on Strength's retreating back.

"Don't turn your back on me, you son of a bitch," he lunged for Strength, his feet leaving the ground as he flew toward him with his broadsword pointed at his back. Strength shifted his body to the right, as Adrian sped past him, and he grabbed Adrian by the torso, the palm of his hand landing firmly landing on Adrian's back as his large fingers wrapped around his torso.

"It wounds and angers you to try so hard yet not receive my, or anyone's, recognition, doesn't it?"

"Can you blame me?" he said angrily as he futilely squirmed in Strength's grasp. "You insult me by turning your back to me. My own fucking father and mother don't so much as congratulate me on reaching the number one spot or for working my ass off to get there. Is it so much to ask for a little fuckin' respect?"

Strength laughed, prompting Adrian's anger to grow hotter against the cold, but Strength released his grip around him. Adrian flopped to the ground and he attempted to lift himself up, but to no avail as his feeble arms gave out from under him.

"Be glad I didn't do any serious damage. I'll actually use this sword next time. You better come ready that time as well. However, clothing won't be all you need."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"Do you know how your father amassed such a massive following in this realm? How he made the humans of this world bow to him and proclaim him as their god?"

"By collecting power and killing anyone who got in his way?"

"Yes, and he faced fearsome foes in the process, but he didn't do it alone. He had help."

Adrian stared up at him before the meaning behind his words finally sunk in. "Fuck off. I can do th-"

Before Adrian could finish his sentence, Strength said, "Dispersus!" and the gladius that was once in his hand disappeared in a blue shimmer of light. He then said, "Arcesso gladio: Porta consectetur!" and the broken, withered sword Adrian previously possessed appeared in his hand. He swung the sword and it ripped the air open. "Sorry to send you away from home again so soon, little Sumner." The spiraling vortex expanded as Strength threw Adrian and the sword into it.

Always Enemies ((FMN && Gilgamesh))

Benjamin’s Mansion, Dillon and Benjamin

“So,” Dillon began as she flopped onto the couch next to Benjamin who stared at the television screen in front of him. Servants scurried around them setting tables, which they sat food and drinks upon for the upcoming party. “Have you ever considered doing something else with your money?”

“Like buying a yacht?!” he said, suddenly excited at the random thought.

“Uh, no, like, something useful.”

“What’s more useful than spending my money on me?”

“Spending it on others? There are plenty of research facilities that could use the money you’re conjuring. You’re probably the richest man in the world, but here you are, wasting it away on booze, drugs, and women.”

“And men. Life is incredibly short, so I figure making myself happy while I'm here to be of the utmost importance.”

“Can’t you do both? Can’t you make yourself and others happy? With the amount of money you can conjure, you could make everyone in the world happy a trillion times over.”

“I’ll be damned if anyone gets my money,” his voice suddenly low and his eyebrows furrowed. “The world didn’t do a damn thing for me when I was on the streets, scrounging in dumpsters for food, sitting and sleeping in the cold, and dressed in rags. The world didn't give a fuck about me, but now that I have money everyone has favors, wants to be my friend, and lick my ass."

“I-I didn’t know that, Benjamin… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Dillon looked at Benjamin with a perplexed expression as she bit her lip. She then opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again. “Shit. I can’t do this.”

S.U.P.E.S. Hallway, Adrian and Medic

“You must be disappointed about not getting to see Vulcan fight, eh?” Medic said over his shoulder as the two walked down the hallway. “We have some strong students this year, especially the freshmen, that’s for sure. I don’t envy you; it'll be a hell of a fight to see. We're sure to get plenty of tourists this year thanks to you all.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything useful about Vulcan's powers, would you?”

"I know plenty of useful things about his powers, but where's the fun in just tellin' ya? It'd be more interesting to see you find out for yourself."

“It was worth a shot.”

“How ‘bout tellin’ me what this trainin’ of yours entails? It must be hella tough shit to need me.”

“Just do your job.”

“Listen, kid," he said as he stopped walking and turned to face him. "If you want my help you’ll have to tell me what’s what. As a teacher I can’t just let you run about and do as you please, I have responsibilities to keep you safe outside of that arena. Well?"

Adrian sighed as he rubbed the black stubble growing on his chin, "My father has ordered a number of master swordsmen to standby and wait for me to challenge them. If I defeat them in combat I receive their swords, but otherwise I don't. Regardless if I win or lose they don't heal me. That's why you're here."

"Oh wow," he said as he turned and walked toward the training room. "Shit. Your old man must have a serious rep to command men like that.”

“Yeah, he does,” he said as they approached a white door. Just outside the room Adrian could hear the humming of the machines within the training room. Medic lifted his hand to a small panel to the right of the door that clicked as he reached for it. The metal covering slid down, revealing a humming, green, gridded glass screen, prompted for his input. He placed his hand on the screen, a white light shinning from the left side of the screen and slowly motioned toward the right.

“Welcome, Medic,” said a man’s emotionless and mechanical voice from above them.

The door to the room slowly opened as the blinding lights turned on. The room was pure white with various exercising equipment spread throughout the large room. "What's the point in that anyways? It seems dangerous."

"It is. That's exactly why he's doing it. He wants to gauge my strength and progress depending on who I defeat. Not to mention receiving their swords will make me stronger."

“So, how we doin’ this? Are your master swordsmen meetin’ us here?”

“No, I meet them,” extending his arm in front of him Adrian commanded, “Arcesso gladio: Porta consectetur!” The air in front and extending from his palm to three feet in front of him glowed a bright green as a sword materialized into his hand. It was a dull, broken blade, and the leather grip of the sword was tattered to pieces.

“I don’t think that thing could cut wet paper.”

Adrian swung the sword in front of him, and the sound like the ripping of fabric could be heard as the blade whistled in front of him. As the blade descended a dim, green glow lit up where the tip of the blade and the open air met, and the air itself ripped open. It beheld a black and white, spiraling vortex that seemingly continued on endlessly.

“What in the hell?”

“Kind of funny, isn’t it? A broken thing like this can only act as a butter knife to physical objects, but it’s capable of tethering dimensions to one another. I’ll be back.”

“Whoa, kid. Wait!” but Adrian had already stepped into the portal and it closed behind him.

Abaddon vs. Strength

Adrian walked into the portal, his feet coming in contact with something solid despite the seemingly empty void. He looked up and then down, only to see utter blackness, he walked forward and white streams of brilliant light danced alongside Adrian as he walked until another similar rip in the air neared. Light briefly flashed from the other dimension into the void, and he stepped out of the portal.

The end of the portal hovered a few feet from the ground. He lowered his head as he stepped out of the portal and onto the ground, his boots crunching as he landed. The portal behind him closed itself like the steady stitching and healing of skin until the air returned to normal. In front of him stood a towering mountain with steps carved into the circumference that led to the dome of the jagged structure. High above it thunder boomed and dark clouds loomed as brief flashes of lightning danced across the clouds, illuminating the night sky. Adrian felt small rain droplets fall onto his face as he gazed up at the mountain.

"I hope he doesn't think I'm walking up that," he thought as he telekinetically lifted himself from the ground and flew himself toward the top. As he ascended he could feel the air noticeably grow colder. "Shit. This'll be pain to fight in. He's really trying to test me here."

The snow forming on the dome of the mountain crunched underneath Adrian's black boots as he landed. In front of him stood a six foot man who beheld a gladius in his right hand. From head to toe he wore heavy clothing in black leathers and furs, and the only exposed skin seemed to be his blue eyes in stark contrast to the rest of his clothing.

"About time. I was growing impatient," his muffled voice said underneath his clothing

"Even with such warm clothing you must be growing cold."

"I am not, you, however, will be feeling the effects of this mountain's cold grasp soon enough. You should've came prepared."

Adrian looked down at his muscle shirt as he shivered, "Dispersus," he commanded to the old sword in his hand, and it disappeared in a green flash. "Looks like I'll have to end this quickly then."

"I sense your overconfidence in your voice and manner, little Sumner. That can be dangerous."

Always Enemies ((FMN && Gilgamesh))

Adrian walked out of the arena and into the hallway as Veronica and Frank eagerly interviewed Khione, allowing his ears a rest from the screaming students. He looked over to his right as he the sound of footsteps traveled throughout the otherwise silent hallway. Down the hallway strolled a man with his head down and hands in his blue jean pockets, but he looked up upon walking closer to Adrian.

"Abaddon. Congratulations on the win," he said as he stopped in front of Adrian. "Close call though. It didn't look like you had much of a plan for that fight, and If Titan had been faster you'd currently be ranked number two."

"I don't need to be told how lucky I am. Going to see the minion matches?"

"I am," he confirmed, scratching the black stubble on his chin. "I should be on my way then," he said before walking past Adrian.

"Wait, Medic. I need someone to heal me."

"Oh? You don't look afflicted."

"I won't be. Not yet. It's for my training."

"That must be some intense trainin' if you need me on standby."

"It is."

"Not going to tell me, eh? Well, when do you need me?"

"It can be immediately after the minion matches are over."

"Alright, not like I have papers to grade with these matches goin' on. Any specific place we meetin'?"

"We can meet in the training room."

"I'll see you then," he said as he descended the stairs toward the arena and Adrian followed behind him.

Vulcan vs. Acidulous

"Well, ladies and gentlemen," said Frank. "You've heard it from the Ice Queen herself! Give it up for Khione!" he cajoled and the crowd responded with applause.

"May we have the top three minions in the ring please?" Veronica said.

From the stands descended two minions into the arena. One with short, black hair confidently strolled over and stood on top of the platform labeled with the figure 'one.' It lit up aflame as he stood upon it with his matching black and red sneakers, pants, and jacket.

To his left stood a boy with skin a sickly green color that matched the number two platform he stood on.

Frank and Veronica looked around with perplexed expressions for the third minion but after a few moments no one came.

"This is weird, isn't it Frank?"

"It certainly is, V. Both third ranked minion and villain of the freshman class aren't here today. I hope they're alright!"

"So do I, Frank, but maybe our minion is just late. Should we wait for him?" she asked the audience, and they responded with boos and a series of thumbs down. "Well, the people have spoken." Veronica walked over to the boy standing on the number one platform. "Vulcan, what do you think of Khione's recent win?"

"Surprising, but only because Miasma was weak and I could've finished the match in half the time. It shouldn't have taken her that long to take him out."

"Really? Well, if Acidulous challenges you, do you think you can end it quicker than Khione could?"

"Of course I will."

"Acidulous," Frank said as he walked over to the boy on Vulcan's left. "Vulcan is talking a big game, what'd you think abou that?"

"I think he's full of shit."

"Oh really?" Vulcan said. "How 'bout you challenge me then?"

"...No."

"Typical. You say I'm full of shit, but you don't want to fight me yourself. Coward."

"I'm not like Miasma. I know when to back down."

"Dammit," Adrian thought. "Fight him. I need to know what he can do."

"Fuckin' chicken!" yelled one minion in the audience.

"Yeah! Back your shit up!" yelled another.

Acidulous' hand formed into a tight fist as he swallowed hard. "No. I refuse."

Always Enemies ((FMN && Gilgamesh))

Adrian chuckled at Lydia. "Don't believe me yet, huh? Well, we'll see how things turn out." Adrian began walking toward the entrance of the villain arena, but a voice halted his progress.

"Well, well, well," she said, and Adrian turned to see a lanky girl with long, brunette hair and light skin. "If it isn't the big, bad Abaddon."

"Sally," said Adrian as he turned to face her. "Just who I was looking for."

Sally raised an eyebrow at this, "Oh, really? If I recall correctly you didn't want a damn thing to do with me. What'd you want?"

"I have use of you now. Nothing more, nothing less."

"'Use of me?' Christ, you're still a prick."

"What?"

Sally rolled her eyes and sighed, "and clueless," she said before walking past him, but as she did Adrian lightly grabbed her by the arm.

"Listen, you don't have to do much. All I need you to do is heal me."

Sally ripped her arm away from him, "Fuck off! Even Lilith treats me better than you did, and she's a fucking demon. She actually communicates with me and doesn't shut me out. So why the hell would I help you?" she asked, staring him down.

Adrian stood his ground and a moment of silence passed before the arena below them erupted into cheers and whoops, "Don't worry about it," he said, turning to make way to the villain arena.

"I feel bad for Dillon! She must be going through hell!" Sally called after him, but Adrian offered her no response as he continued to descend the stairs to the arena. Despite his silence, however, her words did not ring hollow.

Khione vs. Miasma

Veronica and Frank put their hands to their lips to hush the crowd, and the villains and minions quieted themselves. In the arena stood only two villains this time, and standing on the first place pedestal was Khione. She stood at 5'5 with platinum blond hair, icy blue eyes, and pale skin. From her body drifted a cold mist and the entire platform she stood on was frozen solid, covering the glowing one in blue ice. To her left stood Miasma who was a young boy with straight, short black hair but was seemingly ordinary as he stood upon the platform numbered '2.'

"Unfortunately, since our third ranked villain isn't here, we'll have to disqualify him," she said, making a sad face for the audience to see, and then following up with running her index finger from the corner of her eye down her cheek.

"As heart breaking as it is, Veronica," said Frank as he pretended to pull a tissue from his pocket and handed it to her, but she responded by playfully smacking his hand away. "Luckily, we have two villains here ready to rip one another to pieces!"

The crowd cheered in response to this as Frank waltzed over to Miasma and asked, "So, Miasma, do you feel good about today's match?"

"I-I don't know."

"Oh? Well, will you challenge Khione then? Or will you stay where you are?"

Miasma took a deep breath and swallowed hard, and looked over to Khione who glared at him, daring him to answer with anything that isn't "no." He hesitated to say anything, but the crowd's wide eyes stared him down as they held their breath.

"I-I don't think I will," he stammered.

"Booo!" yelled a minion from the audience, which prompted the other villains and minions to join in, causing the entire stadium to erupt in boos and insults.

"Aww," said Veronica as she made another sad face. "Come on!"

"Yeah!" encouraged Frank. "Give the people a show! Right?" he said, encouraging the crowd to cheer, which they did, various whoops and yells could be heard in the stands.

"Y-yeah. A-alright, I'll challenge her."

"Atta boy!" Frank cajoled as the audience cheered along with him. "Let's get this match started then!"

Khione sighed upon his response, uncrossed her arms, and stepped down from her platform. Frank and Veronica simultaneously clapped twice, and disappeared in their usual dense cloud of pink smoke, leaving Khione and Miasma to stare at one another.

"Can't say I'm surprised, just disappointed," Khione said, a white smoke left her mouth upon every word she uttered. "You think you're brave taking me on, don't you? In actuality, you're foolish and cowardly by giving into them," she said. "All they want to do is see you bleed. And they will."

Miasma's brows furrowed as he gritted his teeth. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Miasma took a long, deep breath, his chest expanding to unnaturally large proportions before closing his mouth. A moment passed in hushed silence amongst the crowd as something stirred within Miasma's chest, but Khione only callously examined the cuticles of her fingernails.

Suddenly Miasma lurched forward, opening his mouth and releasing a purple gas that bulleted toward Khione and the audience behind her. Immediately, ice already formed beneath Khione's feet expanded, and erected into a massive ice pillar that lifted her fifty feet into the air. The gas slamming into the base of the ice pillar instead of Khione.

Just then, a blue force-field formed around and above the arena, enveloping Miasma and Khione within the battle-zone, and closing off any of the gas from escaping into the stands.

The purple gas was so thick and prominent the floor and base of the ice pillar could not be seen, and surrounded Miasma as it loomed a few feet above the arena floor. "So," Khione called down to him with her hands on her hips. "This is suppose to be the part where your opponent inhales your gas, coughs, and then passes out; but only if they don't hold their breath for a period of time before finally having to breathe, am I right?"

"No, this is the part where I do this," he said as he motioned his left hand toward Khione and pointed at her. The gas flew toward her as she snapped her head around, eyes wide. She clapped her hands together, and the ice pillar expanded again, surrounding her in an ice dome. The gas besieged the fortress of ice with a resounding 'boom', but the fortress did not crack, but stood firmly. The gas surrounded the ice dome's entirety, attempting to locate a way to circumvent the ice's hard exterior.

"You can't stay in there forever, Khione!" Miasma called up to her. "What will you do now?!"

After a moment a dozen ice spikes flew out from the side of the ice dome and straight toward Miasma. Miasma jumped back, and the ice spike shattered upon impact with the ground where he previously stood, but another managed to fly into his upper shoulder. "Gah!" He cried out in pain while blood poured from his wound. "Dammit!"

The other ice spikes impeded themselves into the sand behind him. More sharp spikes jutted out from the ice dome, ready to fly again.

"Interesting," thought Adrian. "A defeat like this might be boring, but it's slow, humiliating, painful, and cruel. Reminds me of my match with Lilith.

The ice spikes shot from the ice dome again, but this time one flew into Miasma's foot and upper thigh. Miasma continued to scream in pain and desperation. "Now he can't move. This is over."

Leaving no time for recovery more ice spikes shot from the ice dome toward Miasma. He covered his head in a protective manner as the ice spikes shot toward him and sank into his chest. He continued to cry out in pain and coughed up blood into the tanned sand. Miasma raised his hand defensively and said, "O-okay! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I yield! I quit!" Miasma's gas slowly dispersed as he held his hand up and the ice dome opened up to reveal a smirking Khione. Her eyes shifted over to Adrian while he stared back at her, "Were you trying to get my attention?" he thought to himself. "Well, you certainly have it now."

Always Enemies ((FMN && Gilgamesh))

"Do I sense the green monster, Lydia?" he asked, turning to face her. "Nice to know you're not completely influenced by his charms. He might not seem malicious, but that's probably intentional. Don't let him fool you," he said.