LeeRoy

A Change of Pace. A Challenge for Once. Shincoco Vs Corban.

@Divinity
Man it looks like this battle's about to get intense. The body integration thing is a double edged sword though.

A Change of Pace. A Challenge for Once. Shincoco Vs Corban.

@Divinity
Business hours are over, I'm finishing cleaning in a bit.

A Change of Pace. A Challenge for Once. Shincoco Vs Corban.

@Divinity
Accidentally posted in the wrong tab. I've got three hours left.

A Change of Pace. A Challenge for Once. Shincoco Vs Corban.

It would be a damned shame if Shin could watch her every movement and see what she was doing as it was happening. It would be a shame if Shin didn't notice how much probing she had been doing. It would be a shame if Shin could intentionally sever the connection between parts of the Black Staff.

Sure would be a shame if all of those were factors in this battle.

It was also a shame that the battle was about to come to a sudden and jarring close.

A literal close as she had, in her overconfidence, put herself in the middle of his death trap. Right in the middle of around twenty feet of spikes and blunt tendrils as they were closing in on her. She had one thing right, her spell would have totally disrupt The Black Staff. Had it had made contact with it. As she swooped into her dive, as her blade was thrust towards his barrier, Shin opened a hole before her. Allowing her blade to pass through the bulk of his construct and towards himself. Like a camera's rolling shutter, it rotated open as her weapon came down.

Why?

Isn't it obvious? She had put too much faith in her ability that she didn't realize she was trapping herself. No matter how fast her movemnts were, she had willfully thrust her weapon arm forwards to shatter his own weapon. She had done a number on him, yes. Broken a few ribs, his right arm was gone and his face had been fractured by the weight of his mask slamming into it. His right leg had a hairline fracture, and he had actually been stabbed by a shard of rock from her concussive blast. But she hadn't dismembered him, she hadn't broken every limb, she hadn't killed him.

And that was enough.

Shin was prepared for her stab, that's why he was prepared to move. Shin vaulted backwards, using the nearby spear as a springboard. Shin raised the entirety of his body upwards with a sharp backwards leap, pulling his center of mass up like a pole vaulter in reverse. Her blade passed harmlessly beneath his body as he vaulted away, but he wasn't nearly done with her. He extended the makeshift arm to push himself further away from the body of his weapon. All in one fluid and catastrophic motion his devious machinations unfolded.

She didn't notice the similarities? Shin thought to himself.

The Hydra's the bastard child of an Iron Maiden and a Bear Trap, as her weapon passed through the barrier. As Shin gave the illusion of his Staff collapsing from her spell, her stab would continue forward. Why? Because she put too much speed behind it. The staff would snap forward and downwards like the jaws of a Goblin Shark. Right around the arm that she extended with the blade. Hopefully, though not a certainty, to repay the arm that she had taken away from him.

But that's not all. Remember that he was closing it around her anyway? Remember that he had raised it upwards so it could spear her as she moved away? No?

Shin raised the backside up to strike at her before, and she had countered with her defense of myriad blades. The entire bulk of the entity had not simply stopped moving, and this was her great folly. She had thrown herself at great speed into the center of it. The rear end had already been raised, the barrier that he had raised between himself and her was brought up to create a pseudo jaw shape. The size of her blade and her own body made this whole contraption the perfect size for ensnaring and spearing a human sized body. The remaining bulk of the contraption would snap shut around her like a bear trap, consuming and impaling her from all sides.

But Shin had one more weapon to ensure that she wasn't going anywhere.

Corban had even eliminated her own escape route by not cutting it off. It was still overhead. Shin didn't rid himself of the claw, and so too had it a purpose in his incredibly convoluted plan. The claw was the roof of his three pronged prison. It dropped its weight on top of the entire construct.

As he vaulted away and held himself aloft with the extended makeshift arm, he sneered behind his mask. Shin had even put himself outside of harm's way just in case she managed to escape his devastating plot.

Edit: For Grammar.

A Change of Pace. A Challenge for Once. Shincoco Vs Corban.

@Divinity
I hope you're ready. Because Shin's just getting started.

Edit: Headed into my shift now, but I'll be back online in 7 hours.

A Change of Pace. A Challenge for Once. Shincoco Vs Corban.

A few alterations to Corban's plan would be necessary. Very clearly they did not have Shin's best interests in mind, and that was unacceptable obviously. So let's pick this apart and make it more ergonomic for our favorite homicidal maniac, shall we?

For instance, as the sister blades made contact with his Spears they erupted like a bullet striking water. Their own speed working against them as his staff heads turned fluid and enveloped them. Even if they could cut through them, they would find no province against the tar-like form they took in response.

Entrapment the defensive blades was merely the first step in a three part plan. You see, earlier there had been a hilarious misconception that had driven the tide of this battle since the beginning.

Corban, or Crystalle as they were calling themselves now, believed that Shin's mind was not as powerful as tool as her own. That was a gross misunderstanding, because Shin had already seen the glaring difference between their abilities.

Step two was to meet her halfway through her charge towards him. But it was not a bodily movement, Shin extended his right arm forward in what looked like a wide haymaker. As his arm swung forward another branch of his staff extended forward. It rapidly grew and hardened into a clawed hand about three times the size of his other hand.

This clawed hand was on an intercept course with Corban at the peak speed it was capable of, the speed of thought. The speed of Shin's thought, four times that of a normal person. This hand would strike her in seconds if she were standing still, let alone if she continued moving towards him.

And part three? Part three was simple. The remaining mass of the staff would extend upwards towards Corban and angle itself so it would prove a barrier between Shin and her. The staff body and his pseudo arm would merge on contact with itself. Even if she did move around it, Shin would be ready with a devious trick of his own.

Normally people would go for his right side, especially now. Missing eye, missing arm. But the problem was just how obvious that was, and Shin knew how smart Corban was. Knew they would go for something less than obvious to try and catch him off guard, so even as he made his offense he readied his footing. Placed his left foot against the nearest spear and loosened his right foot up.

Arena Chat Thread

@ImportantNobody
If Skallagrim turns me down I'll beat you up.

Arena Chat Thread

@Skallagrim
Hey, you.

You and I should have a fight.

Human tier fighters, unarmed. Fist to fist.

I haven't done that with anyone on here yet, and I know you're good at it.

A Change of Pace. A Challenge for Once. Shincoco Vs Corban.

"Come"

With such vindication and pride she spoke to him, as though she were his equal. A man can loose an arrow at a dragon and feel pride, but it takes an entire army to slay one. She could equip herself with weapons and armor all she wanted, she could build a barrier of impenetrable stone around herself for all he cared. Without his weapon he was a master warrior, but with his weapon he was more than just a warrior. Shin was the embodiment of war, a demon on the battlefield, and all who had faced him with his staff and lived still woke screaming in the night. Visions of his single eye behind that black shield on his face were burned into their retinas, and every time they closed their eyes they saw him still watching.

Corban would soon learn exactly why that was.

With fury and fire behind his voice he screamed, saliva spraying against the inside of his mask. "Fine!" Like a train and all its cars are filled with steel, Corban wouldn't even slow him down by standing in his way.

He unleashed hell with a thrust of his left arm, the massive construct moved like giant that had woken from its slumber. It erupted from the ground, catapulting debris in every which direction. The sound it made as it destroyed the ground between them was akin to an earthquake, his arm whipped forth and back as the behemoth rose. It seemed almost to crawl towards her, every blade and spike adorning the top of his machination swung viciously. Like an entire Roman Legion, menacing its foes with their spears.

Shin stood atop his monster with a small platform beneath him, the spears nearest to him writhed and stabbed upwards. The gap between them closed rapidly as his weapon lumbered towards her, it stabbed and extended its blades towards her in an eight pointed assault. Eight of the spears grew towards her, aimed at every extremity twice, save for her head. He didn't want to instantly kill her, he wanted her to suffer. He wanted to impale her, he wanted to rip her apart limb from limb.

A Change of Pace. A Challenge for Once. Shincoco Vs Corban.

@Divinity
If it's a question of the intimacy of their weapons, Shin's is definitely more intimate.

Since it IS part of his soul.