User blog:Monkey Doctor 33/Wrath of the Heavens! Imperius (Diablo III) vs Raiden (Mortal Kombat)

Deities. Many of them are scattered throughout fiction, acting as paragons of light or harbingers of darkness. Some embody the characteristics that make living beings who they are at present, while some represent certain elements of the worlds they hold domain over. A great many of these deities act as the shields of those who cannot defend themselves or are overwhelmed by another greater oppressive force, but not all of them are truly as nice as people seem to think. Today, two heavenly entities go head-to-head in a vicious battle of opposing ideologies! The Lord of High Heavens and Archangel of Valor, Imperius, shall find himself in-combat with a being unlike anything he has ever known! Angels and demons he butted heads with, yes. But what of a god? Raiden, Earthrealm's God of Thunder, shall soon pit his unbriddled mastery over storms against the brightest light in the High Heavens! Without further ado, let us jump straight in! Imperius, the relentless leader of the legendary Angiris Council and the Aspect of Valor whose disdain for humanity is matched only by his demon-slaying ability! VS Raiden (Mortal Kombat), the indomitable god of thunder and lightning who has protected Earthrealm from extra-dimensional threats in both ways of benevolence and malevolence! In this battle between 'good' deities... Who is Deadliest?

Imperius


"My old enemy. You cannot hide from me, no matter what form you choose to wear. Let your true self be revealed...Diablo!"

- Imperius

Imperius is among the greatest angels who have ever dwelled the High Heavens. As the Aspect of Valor and ruler of the Angiris Council, Imperius is effectively the High Heavens' leader, a position he utilizes to lead the Heavenly Host against the forces of Hell in many conflicts that has lasted since the dawn of creation. The Archangel of Valor is unusually fond of war and battle for typical angels and for all his valor, pride and anger have always plagued his mind and affected his judgments and overall wisdom. Despite his cynicism against mundane forces such as the Nephalem or his brother, Tyrael, Imperius' prowess in battle is nearly impossible to beat and what his words boast he can back up with the Solarion and experience.

Raiden (Mortal Kombat)


"There are fates worse than death."

- Raiden

Raiden is Earthrealm's renowned God of Thunder and one of its supernatural protectors. As the defender of Earthrealm, Raiden has faced an insurmountable amount of opponents from other dimensions such as Outworld or the Netherrealm, alone or together with its other mortal fighters. His power is so great even Elder Gods cannot easily defeat him in mere combat. In the new timeline he had a hand in creating, Raiden remains the defender of the dimension alongside new allies and against new threats. And after Shinnok had been defeated, Raiden turned into a darker individual with a thirst for blood for Earthrealm's enemies. Although erased from existence, Raiden continued to live on after the cataclysmic event that is Kronika's crusade, albeit as a mortal.

Imperius
Solarion= Solarion is Imperius' iconic weapon and one that suspiciously shares a similar origin to the Mjolnir. The Spear of Valor was forged in the heart of a dying star and acts as an extension of the Archangel's will. Its power was said to be so great it could destroy the mightiest ramparts of Hell in a single strike. We don't know if it has the power of a star itself, but the thousand-year-old Imperius is so proficient with the weapon he made a crap ton of blood rivers flowing throughout the Burning Hells out of the demons he killed. It is sharp enough to cut through one off regular Diablo's spiky protrusions and utterly split the demon in half alongside the angelic chains that bind him and the stone behind him.

Imperius doesn't always bring Solarion with him but he can summon it as a beam of light from the skies or outright materialize it into his hands. It's not indestructible, but the thing that split this to half was basically equivalent to seven Luke Cages combined into a single entity, so that's that. It has no worthiness enchantments whatsoever, so everyone can pick it up. Can he return Solarion to his hands when it happens to be somewhere else, though? Considering the spear was already 'somewhere else' before he summons it, yes. Can someone steal Solarion when it travels as a light lance? If you can touch light or override Imperius' will, sure, good luck. Telekinesis= A seldom-seen power only seen used in the Diablo III animation, Wrath. It is one useful power to have, however. Just like Ermac, Imperius has the standard run-of-the-mill telekinesis which allows him to lift up objects from afar, pull enemies into his vicinity, or maybe, JUST, maybe, allow levitation even if his wings are broken by propelling himself from the ground. This one might as well be a game-breaker if he's not such a melee lover. Flight and Teleportation= In addition to regular flight, Imperius is also able to teleport himself either instantaneously or through that 'light shift' you see above. We don't know his flight speed and his light shift has a distinctive weakness of being slow to an extent (as seen when he failed to grab Solarion in time after shifting, allowing Tyrael to steal it), so it doesn't have much going for it.

As with Tyrael's case, Imperius' wings can be 'broken' by prying off his pauldrons. 'Broken', because the wings of an angel are made of pure light and it emits energy so hot mere mortal weapons turns to ash upon contact. Even then, the Archangel of Justice wasn't able to easily tear them off although we know not of how strong Diablo angels are (obviously stronger than peak humans, duh). For once, Imperius' wings are 'hung' somewhere else behind his back.

While shifting, Imperius turns into pure light, so nothing can harm him while so. In light form, he can partially revert to his normal form and transition back to shifting mode with ease. What does all of this mean? As much as how 'slow' Imperius' 'light speed' is, his flight ability's power lies in unpredictability. Energy Projection= Solarion can fire searing energy blasts in either forms of continuous beams or waves of fire. Under his command, Solarion can increase the intensity of its blasts as seen when Imperius increases his beam's power to force out Prime Evil Diablo out of his new host body. What about Imperius? Can he project energy himself? His landing apparently produces a large wave of energy that can even incinerate demons, so it can be inferred that Imperius can produce energy 'explosions' from his own body.

Raiden (Mortal Kombat)
Staff= In older installments, Raiden's staff is one of wood and he can conduct electricity through it because of his magical nature. In MKX and MK 11, however, Raiden wields a more metallic and potent staff. In MKX, a blunter variation of his staff was able to pierce demons through their superhuman bodies and get forced down the throat of an opponent through their entire body while MK 11's staff has a dragon-shaped ornament on an end that can pierce the abdomen of superhuman kombatants. Either way, it is versatile but ultimately a lesser object compared to 'real' weapons like swords and spears.

What makes Raiden's staff deadly is its ability to channel his magic lightnings and its phenomenal speed. Raiden literally swings this thing as if he's swinging a mere spoon! Its potency enhanced by electricity is also terrifying as it can shock enemies from a fair distance away in melee and basically extend all of Raiden's mumbo-jumbo light show which as of now nearly resembles how a bloody Power Ring works. Can Raiden teleport it in and out of combat? Considering he can teleport objects like a statuette or large number of people, yes. Amulet of Shinnok= The Amulet of Shinnok is one of the mightiest magical artifacts in the Mortal Kombat universe. Created by, you guessed it, Shinnok, the Amulet has a number of useful properties that enhance both its power and the user, depending on the user himself or herself. What does that mean? Compare Dark Raiden holding off an entire demon horde (see above) with that time when Mileena tried to absorb Kotal Kahn, miserably failing even with such awesome weapon. Kotal is powerful and had the support of the sun, yes, but he's not exactly as super as Dark Raiden.

As said, it enhances the overall power of its user, which is why Dark Raiden is much more powerful than the regular Raiden we all know. It can trap beings inside it provided they're too weak to resist it and unleash crimson energy waves capable of obliterating lesser beings. Imperius is a bloody archangel which means he's already above demigods to begin with, so it's nearly impossible to outright imprison or kill him. Young Raiden could trap Shinnok after getting his ass kicked by Johnny Cage with it, so its target needs to be drastically weakened first.

Should it be destroyed, logically, the user would revert to his/her natural power level. Fortunately for Raiden, the Amulet has yet to be broken by anyone (in the MK 'verse) and he's already strong without the Amulet. Raiden wears this thing on his chest and can still use it even without dismounting it. Not that it's weird to see him do the opposite of a unibeam. It's said to be harmful to its wielder, but Raiden so far hasn't experienced anything bad except becoming angrier. Flight and Teleportation= Moving as fast as lightning itself, Raiden can fly and teleport whenever and wherever he wants. Just as Imperius travels in a form of light, Raiden can do so with electricity at breakneck speed. His speed can sufficiently back up his momentum while charging which allows him to bust through concrete bridges with a certain beast in tow, effectively killing him. His teleportation is instantaneous with delays only coming from Raiden himself after re-materializing. He can even teleport inside a person if he wishes to! Although he moves as fast as lightning, that iconic torpedo move of his doesn't move so just as Imperius' light-shift doesn't exactly move as fast as light. Electrokinesis= Raiden's position as the God of Thunder means that he naturally has the power to manipulate electricity, and boy, is he an amazing thunderer. I mentioned earlier that his electrokinesis is nearly as versatile as one of DC's power rings. As much as how that is true to an extent, Raiden can't create giant robots or factories with a mere thought. No, Injustice 2 is not canonical. Raiden can blast and spam electricity all day long, from chain lightning blasts to smaller shock bolts. From the skies, he can summon catastrophic lightning strikes or even thunderstorms. More specialized techniques have him create lightning blades, spherical shocking traps, make force fields, miniature thunderclouds, and enhance his formidable striking power with electricity. The electricity he generates conducts through all types of medium, even insulators!

While weakened, Raiden can shut down a group of Lin Kuei cyborgs in a single chain lightning attack. They're cyborgs, though, so they are prone to electric attacks. Other more impressive feats include accidentally frying Liu Kang to death, tear up a stone with a non-lethal omni-directional lightning projection, and shocking people to the point of flashing their skeletons. Raiden has an assortment of other magical abilities, some of which that are relevant to this battle include creating a flashbang-like effect with his eyes and sensing the energy and presence of other beings. For the former, let us remember that Imperius is a being of light and sound...

X-Factors

 * 1) Physicality
 * 2) Experience
 * 3) Training

Imperius


Physicality= Angels are beings of light and sound but they are not invulnerable to magical or more esoteric means of attack. They can be killed, but such effort obviously takes extreme effort. Angels are leagues above humans in terms of strength, and archangels like Imperius is stronger than most other typical angels who populate the High Heavens. Contrary to Raiden's 'squishy' yet ever-enduring body, Imperius seems to be more durable due to the plate armor he wears (which is the manifestation of his will) but suffers more lethal consequences the moment he's injured.

When wounded, Imperius and his kin bleed a form of 'liquid light' that no doubt acts as their counterpart of blood. Now, what of the true physical capabilities of one such as the Aspect of Valor? Despite looking like a Class 100, we don't get to see much of his feats aside from pushing down a giant demon by forcing Solarion through his single eye. His feat of slicing through Diablo, his magical binding chains generated by Auriel (Archangel of Hope), and stone the size of Diablo himself is somewhat attributed to his spear, too.

His durability and endurance are more defined as he quickly recovered from getting smashed by Prime Evil Diablo's tail into a large pillar, still teleport and survive the same being's onslaught after getting stabbed through the chest, and take a shout so powerful it shattered the High Heavens' Diamond Gates. For once, I think it the Gates are literally made of diamonds. Experience= Imperius' age isn't specified, but he is well over a millennium and has faced and killed so many demons of shapes and sizes that he made bloody rivers (literally) flow throughout seven realms. He's known to have had a rivalry with Diablo for thousands of years and is likely to have fought him more than just the events of Wrath or Diablo III. For all the demons' mook-ish nature, they're not beings to be underestimated as it required magical superhumans to deal even with the lowest of them, and Imperius goes against the strongest of them and survived, even if it was a defeat. Remember that he also tussled with Tyrael for more than once and saved his life countless of times in the longstanding wars of Heaven and Hell. Imperius is both adept at fighting with his fellow angels and alone, although he prefers the latter most of the time. Training= Imperius is described as a warrior who cannot be matched in the entirety of the Diablo universe until Tyrael roasted him verbally and Diablo cracked him open like a can while channeling the power of several demon lords. Despite his infamous defeats, Imperius knew no such thing beforehand and he himself acts as the trainer of nearly all -- if not all -- of the High Heavens' angels in their ageless war against the demons. He is well-versed in many fields of war and he's as competent in strategies as he is in wrecking foes to smithereens. He's adept at spotting weak points of even the toughest of enemies but he is so reckless he almost always charges into the fray without thinking.

Raiden (Mortal Kombat)


Physicality= The Protector of Earthrealm is one of the strongest kombatants ever playable in the game's history. He may have been ripped in half by Shao Kahn and dusted by Kronika, but he remains an imposing threat despite his regular appearance. He's strong enough to plow through concrete with a charge, easily break superhuman bones, cyborgs, and create small craters with slams, shoving his staff through an entire body, and perform uppercuts so hard it pulls out the spine and skull of a person.

Raiden is no slouch in the durability department, but he shows more promise in the realm of endurance. He can easily take blunt attacks as if they're nothing, but even hook swords and daggers can penetrate his skin. He could withstand attack barrages that even shatter his godly bones, take multiple freakin' close-range headshots from Erron Black and feel just fine, and survive getting blasted by Quan Chi's skull projectile that can put a hole in a demon's chest, in addition to taking a mighty energy blast from Shinnok's amulet that sends him through a thick-ass stone door with no ill effects. Experience= Like Imperius, Raiden is over a thousand years old, but he's battled more than just demons (though his demons tend to be small in size, but who knows). He's protected Earthrealm for countless years, battling extra-dimensional tyrants and entities, as well as taking on mystical armies. He's battled other gods and the magical superhuman fighters of the Mortal Kombat universe, both solo or with his allies from both Earthrealm and Outworld. From Shao Kahn to Shinnok, Raiden is one tough grizzled veteran whose thirst for battle against Earthrealm's enemies only grows as he transforms into Dark Raiden. Training= Original or current timeline, Raiden knows 750 forms of ninjutsu and an additional three other martial arts plus bojutsu (staff-slingin', you may say). For both mortal and immortal standards, that is impressive. However, that does not mean Raiden is completely unbeatable as he has suffered defeats that are not few in numbers. Still, he possesses divine training likely from the Elder Gods and can keep up with even the most proficient martial artists in many dimensions scattered throughout the MK universe.