User blog:Leolab/Leolab's Battles/Part 6

Framing: Nobody Expects the Orlesian Inquisition!
Varric Tethras oiled his crossbow, Bianca, in the dining hall of one of the many strongholds of the re-formed Inquisition. The door crashed open, and Cassandra Pentaghast walked in, looking furious as always.

“Ah, Seeker,” Varric says, grinning insolently, “Is there a book you forgot to stab?” Cassandra simply glared at the dwarf, who simply chuckled, unaffected. “You know, Seeker, there’s one thing I’ve been wondering for a while.”

“That is?” she asked wearily, feeling another one of his stories in the making.

“You asked me so much about Hawke during our little talk, but never about Anders.”

“And why would the Mage be more important?”

“Besides the fact that he’s the one who blew up the Chantry and forced this war on us?”

“Hawke was the central figure.”

“Hawke, for all I respect him, was played like a fiddle. Anders was the bow.”

“And who was the player?”

“Well, let me tell you a story…”

Prologue: No Murder Knife For You
Anders walks through the halls of Vigil’s Keep, responding to a summons by his commander. An elf known only as “The Warden Commander,” his superior was the Hero of Ferelden, who slew the Archdemon and stopped the Fifth Blight. The world saw The Warden as a hero.

Anders knew him as a friend, a man with a shared past. They had both left the Circle of Magi and joined the Wardens. Their love for the fine things in life and their shared anger at the Chantry for oppressing their fellow mages created an almost instant bond. The Warden was a friend, however, for whom he was deeply concerned. He entered the storeroom, nodding to the semitransparent armored figure inside.

“Anders!” The Warden called, “Ready to kill some Darkspawn?”

Anders sighed at the thought. “It’s always Darkspawn this, Darkspawn that with the Wardens. Why can’t we relax, throw a party, maybe invite some of the barmaids from Amaranthine?”

“With our luck, another Archdemon would wake up just as we got started,” The Warden says, chuckling, “And for another, being around a walking tear in the Veil is something of a buzzkill for most women.”

And there was the issue, out in the open. Anders had no idea how to broach the subject; his friend had constantly kept up an ancient Elven magic that let him exist both in Thedas and the Fade simultaneously. Anyone, much less a Warden steeped in the blood of countless foes, who constantly existed in the Fade for so long would be of concern, a magnet for Demons and likely to be possessed. The crux of the issue lay elsewhere, however.

As the two entered the Deep Roads through the Silverite gates constructed beneath the storeroom, Anders caught the telltale red glow of a Mage using his blood for power. That was the major bone of contention between the two. Anders retained the distrust of Blood Magic the Chantry had ingrained in them, while the Warden… the Warden seemed to revel in it as it weakened the Veil around him.

While he was wrestling with that quandary, the Warden held up one armored fist. They stopped and listened. Nodding to each other, the Warden draws his sword, Vigilance, and shield while Anders readies his staff. They round the corner and see a massive horde of Darkspawn – including two Ogres, moving in their direction.

Wasting no time, the Warden immediately leads off with Blood Wound, leaving most of the Darkspawn twitching and helpless. Anders activates Flaming Weapons as the Warden charges in, and then casts Grease on the still-reacting Darkspawn horde. The Warden points Vigilance at his foes, and a fireball leaps from the tip, setting the flammable liquid on fire and knocking down the Darkspawn caught in the blast. The Warden reaches the remaining part of the horde, hewing Darkspawn heads and limbs with each stroke of his sword, cutting through until he is surrounded. He unleashes Hand of Winter, freezing all the Darkspawn around him solid as Anders casts a Glyph of Repulsion in the area, shattering the frozen Darkspawn.

Barely thirty seconds had passed, and nearly a hundred Darkspawn lay dead or dying, leaving only the two Ogres standing. The Warden charges, as Anders moves into a position near one of the many crags. The Warden fires off a Misdirection Hex from Vigilance at one Ogre and a Death Hex at the other. He charges at the one with the misdirection hex, and ducks under its punch and slashes deep into its arm. Taking the fist’s momentum, he spins and pulls his blade free as he bites into the Ogre’s leg. He slashes four times at the beast’s chest and abdomen, and drops his shield. Using the gaps he just made as footholds, he climbs up the Ogre and stabs it repeatedly in the face until it comes crashing to the ground.

He then turns to look for the other one, seeing it charging straight for Anders, who’s ranged attack spells had just run out. The Warden then pulls a knife from a sheath and hurls it, the flat, triangular blade flashing as the knife spins end over end into the Ogre’s skull.

The massive Darkspawn, already weakened by Anders’ attacks and the Death Hex, takes the hit and crumples forward, sliding into the chasm. The Warden runs to try and retrieve his knife, but the corpse slips away before he could do so. The Warden looks glumly at the chasm as Anders rushes over.

“Is a knife really so important?”

“This one is. It’s my murder knife.”

“Ooooooookay then….”

“I’ve had it since I left the Circle.”

“And you call it your ‘murder knife’ why?”

“A good friend named it that,” The Warden replies, fiddling with the rosewood ring on his finger. “You know, Anders, I’m not going to be able to keep the political pressure from the Chantry off forever.”

“You… what?”

“I’m going to need to leave soon. If the next Commander of the Grey buckles, go to Kirkwall with Justice.”

“Why Kirkwall?”

“It’s the best place for you to help free the other mages from the Chantry.”

Anders just looked at his commander, slightly stunned. Before he could ask what he meant, though, a messenger came running up.

“Warden, sir, and Anders, Vigil’s Keep is under attack.”

The Warden nods at Anders, and motions for the scout to go back, the three making their way out of the Deep Roads and up to the walls of the Keep.

Preparations
The Warden and Anders join up with the rest of their party on the walls of Vigil’s Keep, overlooking the approaching enemy. There were seven small groups of massive, blue-skinned giants with equally large swords moving rapidly towards the keep, intent on taking it for themselves.

“That some new Darkspawn?” Oghren asks.

“Whatever it is, it’s not good for us,” Nathaniel replies, “They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Then we’ll await them just inside the gates,” The Warden says, “I don’t think those will hold out very long. Get your weapons and armor ready.”

Three minutes later, the Warden’s entire party, seven in all, stands arrayed in the courtyard of Vigil’s Keep, ready to repel the attacking Koloss and Steel Inquisitors, 357 in all. Outnumbered 51 to 1, they wait apprehensively as the doors are battered by the invading army, creaking and splintering slowly.

Break-In
Just before the door splinters completely, The Warden nods to Justice and Oghren. They activate their respective sustained talents, increasing the effectiveness of the party and their own abilities. As they do so, The Warden simply raises Vigilance, point facing the door.

The instant it shatters, The Warden casts Blood Wound, paralyzing the first Koloss charging in. Their compatriots swarm in around them, and the three warriors rush in to meet them, with Sigrun and Anders following at a distance. Oghren activates his Aura of Pain, and starts to hew limbs from the charging giants, ducking and weaving between their legs as Justice unleashes a War Cry that causes several to falter, and draws the ire of the horde. As they charge in swinging, he simply deflects and dodges their blows, too hard-pressed to make an attack.

Seeing this, Sigrun activates Flicker on the area around Justice, moving with blinding speed to strike all the Koloss facing Justice in the back. This injures them enough that when The Warden flings a fireball from Vigilance, most of them don’t recover from the blow.

Nathaniel, meanwhile, sits on the sidelines, nocking arrows and firing them as fast as he can. While he hits accurately, they don’t even penetrate the Koloss’ skin.

“Just do your bard stuff and sing,” Velanna says, charging in herself, “You’ll be a better support that way.”

“Yes, yes, please do,” Anders says, firing off a few healing spells, “Your singing motivates us all to fight.”

“Does it really?” Nathaniel asks.

“Yes, we want to kill things so that you stop.”

After a brief glare, Nathaniel does as asked, using his talents to passively support the group. Despite this, the Koloss horde has numbers on their side. Justice’s shield slips slightly, letting a massive sword slam down into his armor. He falters, and watches as Oghren’s battle fury rages, despite the wounds he has taken.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Anders’ staff flash white. A wave of power washes over them, and Justice can feel the bones and flesh of his borrowed form knitting together, letting him stave off another few blows and return some of his own.

Velanna, meanwhile, is fighting on a different front, using her Keeper abilities to stop the Koloss in their tracks. She stands in place, surrounded by furious storms of primal energy, watching as her foes close in to attack, fall, and then have their vitality drained to fuel her own. Confident in her abilities, it comes as a total shock when she sees a human figure standing in front of her, spikes driven through his eyes and body.

Princess Stabbity
That small moment of hesitation is her undoing. The figure – a Steel Inquisitor – compounds Steel, shooting out his hand with blinding speed, driving a spike right through the elf’s right lung. Using duralumin-boosted brass, he subjugates the mage to his will.

Powerless to resist, Velanna turns to attack her former comrades, zeroing in on Anders first. Noticing the shift, Anders casts Dispel Magic, but to no effect. As she closes in on him, he casts Spell Shield and starts using his attacks to slow her down.

Sigrun, meanwhile, has entered stealth mode and is slowly creeping up on the Steel Inquisitor. As she reaches position behind him, she signals the Warden Commander, who points Vigilance at the Inquisitor and fires off a Death Hex, making the Inquisitor more vulnerable to attack. Sigrun then break stealth using Unending Flurry, repeatedly stabbing at the Inquisitor until one of her strikes severs its head.

Velanna staggers, holding her head, while a small knot of Koloss looks similarly disoriented. The blue skinned giants then start to turn on each other, relying on their natural instincts once freed from the Steel Inquisitor’s control. The three look at each other, and Velanna runs back to where she was holding the line while Sigrun goes back into the main melee. Velanna and he surviving members of the Koloss that had turned on each other freeze, and turn back to fight the defenders with renewed vigor.

Sigrun turns and sees this, and rushes to see another Steel Inquisitor looming on the battlements, who then takes a small chunk of metal and holds it in his palm, and it shoots out to the ground in front of her. She sidesteps, dodging the streaking bit as it digs its way into the ground in front of her. The Inquisitor then launches himself at an impossible trajectory, fueled by his allomancy, and lands right in front of Sigrun.

Friendly Fire
The spiked man swings his axe in an overhand chop, intending to split the dwarf in front of him in two. Sigrun rolls out of the way, and lashes out with her sword and dagger. The Inquisitor moves out of the way, and aims another chop at her neck. She blocks, but the Inquisitor starts burning Atium and reacts inhumanly fast, the precognition imparted by the metal guiding his axe into a low chop to Sigrun’s chest. Gravely injured, she can only watch as the Inquisitor swings his axe for the kill.

The Inquisitor, however, quickly burns Iron and rushes away from Sigrun, who immediately finds herself in the eye of a massive magical firestorm. She feels the warm glow of magic knitting back flesh, bone, and blood and nods to Anders in thanks, barely visible through the swirling column. As he finishes healing, he notices something hurtling towards him out of the corner of is eye. He instinctively puts up a Spell Shield, which dissipates the Stonefistfired at him by the still-controlled Velanna.

“Andraste’s knickerweasles…” he mutters, quickly casting a Glyph of Paralysis around her. The Keeper freezes in place, unable to move or act. Anders nods in satisfaction, which turns to shock as three arrows pierce her head, neck, and heart.

OOM
Anders turns and glares at Nathaniel, who had already turned back to the rest of the fight, ineffectually shooting at the Koloss and Steel Inquisitors. He gathers mana to cast Revival on Velana, but his concentration is broken by an urgent shout from the Warden, who had disengaged to get a better sense of the battle.

“No, Anders!”

"What? But she..."

“Is controlled. We don’t know how. Nor do we have the time to find out. Focus on the ones who can fight.”

Anders grits his teeth and does as bidden, firing off a few support spells as the Warden charges back into where Justice and Oghren are holding the line. He joins the melee with his sword and magic, taking some of the pressure off of them. The three spread into a rough triangle, keeping the onrushing giants from flanking any of them. Despite the immense battle prowess of the group, they only barely manage to hold out, being driven slowly inwards.

“Oil incoming!”

Anders casts the spell as he yells, and the Warden puts a Fireball in the area almost immediately afterwards, igniting a small clump of Koloss. The Warden follows up with Blood Wound cast on the opposite flank, and the three melee fighters move forward a little, taking advantage of the extra breathing room. The flurries of stabs and slashes, interspersed with the arcane light of spellcasting, match and repel the onslaught of heavy blows unleashed form the oversized blades.

They were only three, however, and could only hold for so long. The blows kept coming hard, but the defenders started flagging. Little by little, Oghren’s and Justice’s stamina started to wear down as they unleashed skill after blow after skill on their foes. The Warden still seemed fresh, but small rivulets of blood started to trickle down his ghostly form, not all of it from his foes; this was the toll exacted on Blood Mages who fed their magic solely with their own blood.

A massive sword slipped through The Warden’s defenses. It crashed behind him as he barely rolled out of the way. He ducked and weaved over more blows, slipping out of sight just as Anders yells.

“I’m out of Mana!”

Drink to the Legion
"By the tits of my ancestors, Anders, you have horrible timing,” Oghren yells, hacking at the leg of a Koloss. “As does the Warden. Spikey guy incoming!”

Sigrun rushes in in stealth, activating Flicker on the area around the Inquisitor. She moves with blinding speed to stab several Koloss in the back of the neck, killing them. The Inquisitor sees this and immediately starts burning Bendalloy, creating a bubble around him where time moved faster than normal. He flares it to intensify the effect, looking outside the bubble as Sigrun runs to and fro, seemingly moving at normal speed while everyone else moved sluggishly, as if caught in Drayco time. The path she was on to the next Koloss crossed his path. He sidestepped and let the bubble drop. His axe split her nearly in two.

“Anders!” Oghren calls.

“I saw.”

“I’ll cut ye a path to the lass!”

He proceeds to do just that, hewing and hacking left and right to create a small beachhead in the surging wave of Koloss. The going is slow, but steady, and the beachhead expands into a narrow path and he slices his way through, getting within inches of Sigrun.

A Koloss swings its sword in an overhand chop, which he can’t escape in the narrow path he had cut. It splits into Oghren’s head, and the gap closes as more Koloss spill out. The Warden’s party was down three men with their leader nowhere in sight, and they’d only managed to kill a hundred of the beasts, along with a single one of their commanders.

Second Wind
Justice backs up a bit, looking grim. A brief look passes between the two men and the possessed corpse. Death was what they had signed up for. Death was what they faced here.

And then, a shout rang out from within the blue horde. “Anders! Glyph of Repulsion on me!” Hearing their commander’s voice ring out rallied the men, as does seeing a small knot of Koloss freeze in place thanks to Hand of Winter. Anders does as bidden, and the Koloss shatter, giving him a clear view of Sigrun and Oghren so that he can cast Revival.

The two dwarves feel their dying flesh knit back together, restoring them to health, and they pick themselves up as the Warden, also hit by the Glyph’s burst, summersaults through the air. The dwarves sprint through the gap opened up, turning to face the onrushing horde as the Warden lands behind them, sword in the ground.

Rallied, Justice, Oghren, and the Warden slice into the Koloss ranks, Sigrun shanking any who get past them. The horde gets drawn in, determined to smash the four warriors who were killing their fellows. The press of numbers allowed, by the laws of chance, a few strikes to get through, biting into armor and flesh. Each time this happened, however, Anders had a healing spell at the ready, mending the flesh, bone, and steel.

In a few moments, they had bounced back from the brink of defeat and into true Warden form, standing firm against an army of giants and slaughtering them in droves. One of the Inquisitors sees this reversal and casts around for an advantage he can take. Drawn by the coarse, screeching chanting, his head swivels to see Nathaniel, still “singing,” while unleashing arrows that were little more than an annoyance before the Inquisitors’ allomantic prowess. The Inquisitor grins, seeing the faint blue lines of metal sources pointing towards the man’s quiver. He slips on a pure Iron ring, and starts feruchemically filling it with nearly 90% of his weight while burning Iron as well, using the arrowheads’ metal to yank himself right in front of the archer.

This Is Why Rogues Suck
Nathaniel turned just in time for the Inquisitor to ram a spike into his right lung. He gasps in shock and pain, which is quickly erased by a Duralumin-enhanced Brass flare. Now subordinate to the Inquisitor’s commands, he lifts and draws his bow, using Scattershot on Sigrun. It takes her in the back of the head, and the shattered arrow splinters into Oghren’s leg, and he goes down on one knee.

He’s unable to defend against the oncoming swing from a Koloss, which nearly splits him in half diagonally.

“Warden!” Anders yells, “It’s got Nathaniel!”

The Warden turns and points his sword at the rogue, firing off Stonefist as Anders casts Haste, and breaks out into a run to fight the Inquisitor, extending his sword behind him and casting Virulent Walking Bomb into the horde to keeps some pressure off Justice. It doesn’t work, however, since a pair of Steel Inquisitors make Allomantically-enhanced leaps over the Koloss horde, landing in front of Justice and cutting the corpse down with three swings of their axes.

The Warden charges in, riding the momentum for a diagonal slash. The Inquistor simply burns Steel to deflect it while he comes in for a blow with his axe. The combat instincts imparted by the phylactery – the training of the ancient Elven Arcane Warriors, absorbed in an instant – has him raise his shield to block the axe while sidestepping.

The Inquisitor uses Steel to Push the shield out of the way with the same contemptuous ease it used to deflect the sword strike earlier. The strike missed the Warden’s body by centimeters, while he stabs Vigilance towards the Inquisitor’s abdomen. The blow moves directly at its center of mass, so the Inquisitor is forced to use brute force to stall the stab in its tracks. It sweeps its axe in a quick upward arc, aiming at the Warden’s throat while he was struggling against the Steelpush.

Another Secret
The Warden casts Cone of Cold, freezing the Inquisitor solid. Vigilance, suddenly free of the struggle, shoots forward and shatters the ice. He turns as Anders reaches him and skids to a stop, also turning to face the enemies left.

“How are we?” The Warden asks, taking stock of his spells.

“Well, I see five of those spikey guys and ten times as many of the big blue ones. My mana’s running low, but with only you to heal it should build up again.”

“Workable… how much time until you can revive Oghren, Justice, and Sigrun?

“’bout a minute, I’d say”

“Okay… they seem tired of us talking. Grease fire and Blood Wound. I’ll try to control one of the spikey guys and get the rest of them.” Anders nods in agreement, and casts Oil on one flank of Koloss while the Warden casts Blood Wound on the other. As he does so, a Steel Inquisitor compounds Iron, making himself many times heavier than normal. He also burns normal, allomantic iron, pulling the Warden towards the group.

Hazekiller
The Warden runs with the force, throwing a fireball at the oiled targets before pointing Vigilance at one of the Inquisitors. A complex web of power shoots out, latching onto the Inquisitor as the spell Blood Control. The Inquisitor, however, is controlled directly by Ruin, who is loath to lose one of his pawns. Ruin breaks this control, but the Inquisitor is left staggering and puking blood. It’s finished off by the Warden’s sword, turned vertical to shear off the head, which he bats with his shield at the face of the Inquisitor pulling him, distracting it and halting the pull.

Arcane light flares and flashes as the Warden fights, the interweaving of spells and swordplay colliding with the Metallic Arts and the swings of wicked, obsidian axes. The Inquisitors duck and sidestep around the Warden’s strikes, one man hard-pressed against four. The Warden, in turn, meets the scything axes with his ethereal shield, deflecting strikes and dodging what slips through.

Several swings penetrate his defenses, gouging his armor and flesh, but Anders leaps right in with a burst of healing energy to revitalize him and enable him to turn the next blow. After twenty seconds, the Warden sees his first opening, and he moves in for the kill.

The Inquisitor had wound up a bit too far for his swing, a fraction of a second behind the rhythm of his fellows. The Warden swings out his shield and catches the axe blow, Vigilance pointed for a stab. The Inquisitor frantically burns Steel to force the point away, and one of the other Inquisitors cuts into his now unprotected flank. The Warden simply casts Drain Life, revitalizing himself while draining the Inquisitor, and follows it up with Flame Blast, then a quick twist to dislodge the axe from his shield sees him spin behind his foe to follow up with a Stonefist to the back of the head, pulping it. The Inquisitor falls, head a bloody mess and body aflame.

He turns his head, hearing Anders bellow a battle cry, facing down a knot of sixteen Koloss that had come after him.

"Suck on a Fireball!"
He, however, is quickly set upon by the three remaining Steel Inquisitors, unable to help. The rhythm of battle continues as before, though with considerably less danger to the Warden now that his foe’s forces have been quartered.

Anders, meanwhile, casts Inferno, surrounding himself with a swirling column of flame. A Fireball and Flame Blast roast several Koloss advancing on his position. Twirling his staff, he casts Arcane Bolt at another Koloss, and then uses Hand of Winter to freeze a group that had almost reached him. He then casts Lifeward on himself, and hits the Koloss with a Flame Blast.

One of them hits him dead center with a sword slice, sending him flying out of the flames he conjured. Lifeward kicks in, however, and the injured flesh knits and heals as he soars through the air and lands back on his feet. A quick twirl of his staff casts a Glyph of Paralysis on the still-raging Inferno spell, trapping another knot of Koloss within. Oil and Fireball take care of several more, but by now he is reduced to barely a sliver of mana. He is stuck sending small bolts of power at his three remaining foes, managing to bring one down before the other two run him through.

KNEEL BEFORE ZO... Ruin.
The Warden continued dodging, swinging, and casting to hold back the three Steel Inquisitors, barely able to fight them to a draw. He was then hit in the back by two massive swords, driving him out of the Fade and to his knees. The damage to his body triggered his safeguards, which prevented him from drawing any more mana from his own life.

For the first time since the Fifth Blight, the Warden existed solely in the real world. For the first time since Ostagar, he had been brought to his knees in combat. His hands gravitated to the pommel of his sword as he closed his eyes, exhausted and drained. His right hand came to rest on his left, touching the rosewood ring on his finger, and his eyes snapped open.

No. Not done yet.

As he knelt, sword planted into the ground, he tapped into his mana reserves, untouched since the Blight save to power his existence in the Fade. He unleashes Hand of Winter, followed by the most basic spell taught to novices in the Circle: Mind Blast. The shockwave shatters the three Steel Inquisitors, and he simply hacks the remaining frozen Koloss to pieces.

Epilogue: Vengeance
Anders slowly awakens, seeing a man in black armor treating his wounds. He takes a few seconds to realize that it’s his commander, fully out of the Fade. “I… what…”

“Can you cast Revival?”

“Yes, but what…”

“Use it on them,” The Warden says, pointing towards the small cluster of bodies comprised of the rest of his party. Anders complies, and the now-hale group enters Vigils Keep, intending to have a good, long night’s rest.

The next morning, The Warden had vanished. As he had anticipated, the new Commander of the Grey had buckled under pressure from the Chantry, recruiting a Templar who kept watch over Anders.

“The rest, Seeker, is history,” Varric concludes.

“Blue-skinned giants with massive swords? Mages with spikes driven through their eyes and the rest of their body? Do you really expect me to buy that?”

“I’m only telling you what he told me.”

“Still… the Warden Commander. He never was friendly to the Chantry, but this?”

“Think about it, Seeker. With so many Ferelden refugees in Kirkwall, what are the odds that Hawke just happened to be friends with Anders? A Grey Warden under the Warden, who left the Order despite that only being possible through death, possessed by a spirit who also worked under the Warden.”

“It is a little too much to be coincidence. And this Morrigan woman we’re dealing with here… wasn’t she rumored to be his lover?”

“The Warden’s playing a long and complex game, Seeker. I won’t pretend to know what it is.”

Opinion
All in all, The Warden's Party was used to these kinds of threats. They fought harder enemies and survived far worse than the Koloss did. Combined with the Warden's leadership and the general optimization of the party for squad-on-army combat, the Koloss and Inquisitors were outmatched.

Prologue
Guts, the Black Swordsman, walked past a large cathedral in a desolate area. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, and puts two fingers up to the Brand of Sacrifice carved into his flesh. He looks at them, seeing blood.

“Heh,” a small laugh escaped from his lips. He enters the cathedral, which is devoid of life.

“Why’re ya goin’ in here?” A voice asks from his pouch. Puck, an elf travelling with him, flies out of the bag and lands on Guts’ shoulder. He looks around in confusion, not seeing anything worth noticing.

“There’s an Apostle in here,” Guts replies, “One powerful enough that I could feel it from outside.” He continues walking, until he comes to a round antechamber. At the sound of a clanking above him, Guts leaps into a sideways roll, dodging the falling cage that would have slowed him down. Puck was not as fast, however, and remained stuck inside the cage.

“Heeeey, Guts, a little help, here?”

“I’ll come back for you,” Guts says, and walks off to find his foe, drawn by the sound of swords clashing to the inner sanctum of the cathedral. The sounds of combat stop as he enters, seeing a man in azure armor with a massive sword facing an altar, while a man in plate armor lies fallen behind him. The Azure Knight turns to face him, flexing his three-clawed right hand.

“You,” he growls, “will be my first sacrifice.”

Battle Part 1: Azure Nightmare
In another tab, if you will.

Nightmare whips Soul Edge towards Guts’ neck, charging in to finish the battle in one blow. Guts, however, draws the Dragonslayer in one smooth motion. The two swords that could barely be called swords clash, and Nightmare’s momentum brings him careening past his foe. Guts pivots as the Azure Knight passes, swinging Dragonslayer as he does so in a bid to decapitate Nightmare. Nightmare turns as well, catching Dragonslayer with his claw and brings Soul Edge arcing towards Guts’ head.

Guts ducks under the blow, letting go of the Dragonslayer with his right hand and using it to grab one of the miniature bombs in his pouch. As Nightmare overextends with his strike, Guts strikes the fuse on his prosthetic left arm and throws the bomb into the mouth on Nightmare’s stomach, while bringing his right foot up into a kick to launch himself backwards off of Nightmare’s armor.

The bomb explodes, and Nightmare staggers. Guts charges in with a stab, aimed at the same place. Nightmare recovers just enough to sidestep it and swing his sword like a bat, catching Guts with the flat of the blade. Guts goes flying into a pillar, hitting his back and falling to the ground.

Nightmare walks towards him. “Now, give me… GIVE ME YOUR SOUL!” he yells, reaching out with his claw to absorb yet another defeated soul.

“Sorry,” Guts says, looking up, a small piece of string between his teeth and his prosthetic arm pointing at his foe, “But you can’t have your sacrifice just yet.” He pulls with his mouth, and Nightmare growls in surprise as a cannonball tears through his chest armor. Guts exploits the recoil to spin in a circle, building momentum for a massive strike with Dragonslayer. It shears through Nightmare diagonally, from the left shoulder to the right hip. Guts finishes the job by decapitating Nightmare and driving Dragonslayer through Soul Edge’s single eye.

As he turns to walk away, however, the pain in his brand spikes, sending out a new gush of blood. He turns to see a rift opening behind him, and he gets sucked in.

(End music, if it hasn’t already)

Battle Part 2: Astral Chaos
Guts finds himself in the center of a stone platform, seemingly floating in the void. He looks around him, noting similar floating stones ringing the arena, as well as a single eye-like orb in the far distance. He hears a threatening growl, and instinctively brings up his sword in a defensive stance. This saves his life, as a beam shoots forth from his foe and slams into his defense, pushing him backwards about halfway to the edge of the platform.

He looks at the being that fired it, which somewhat resembled his foe before. Where the armor was azure, however, it had been colored a dark red, with what appeared to be fire-filled cracks. It had grown enormously in size, even sprouting wings, and its sword had changed, as well.

“So,” he says, “That’s your true form.”

Night Terror roars unintelligibly and lands opposite him, taking a fighting stance.

Battle Part 3: Pavor Nocturnus
Would you kindly play in another tab

Guts brings his prosthetic hand up, crossbow attached to the top. He fires rapidly, filling the air with bolts. While his aim is accurate, the bolts simply clatter off of Night Terror’s armor. He breaks off this form of attack and meets Night Terror’s “sword” with his own.

Night Terror swings his malformed lump of flesh and teeth with speed that belies his mass, flowing between what appears to be two different styles of combat with ease. Guts meets his every move with his own sword-shaped slab of iron, reacting with similar speed. The two combatants clash, neither giving ground.

Guts swings in a low sweep, aiming to hamstring his foe. Night Terror flaps his wings and jumps above the blow. Guts reverses the strike, aimed at the now-hovering Night Terror’s torso. Night Terror quickly drops to the ground and ducks, letting the strike pass harmlessly through the fire that comprises his wings.

He dashes forward, slicing diagonally at Guts. The strike connects, and Guts is driven back almost to the edge of the platform. If it weren’t for my armor I’d be dead, he thinks as he regains his footing, and casts a glance behind him. He gets an idea, and turns back to face Night Terror, who lets out another growl and charges at him, bringing his weapon up for an overhand chop.

Guts sidesteps the blow and stabs forward with the Dragonslayer, impaling Night Terror. He lifts his sword up, taking his foe with it, and pivots while swinging it down forcefully. Night Terror is thrown off, slamming into one of the rocks floating around the battlefield. Temporarily stunned, he falls.

Guts starts reloading his hand cannon, keeping watch in case anything else comes. As he drops in the cannonball, he hears wings flapping. He turns to face the sound, seeing Night Terror flying back onto the field.

“Tough bastard, aren’t ya?” he says, grabbing his sword. Night Terror growls and charges back in, swinging with frenzied strength. Guts dodges and counters, only to be parried himself. Night Terror goes in for an overhead stab, which Guts dodges and brings his sword around for another slash. Night Terror then unleashes the power of the souls he’s absorbed in an explosion, staggering the Black Swordsman.

While his foe is vulnerable, Night Terror takes to the air once again, shooting his signature eye beam at Guts, who is hit head on. Heavily injured, he is in no shape to react when Night Terror swoops down and impales him with his horn, flying back up to shoot his eye beam point-blank, obliterating his foe.

Opinion
The match was set up to mimic a Guts v Apostle fight during the Black Swordsman arc. Guts has technique and speed over Nightmare as a swordsman, but Night Terror overpowered him. While Guts relied on tricking and playing on ego to defeat a far stronger enemy, Night Terror's beastial mentality and sheer power nullified this strategy.

Battle
Note: The original battle was created before the latest Bleach story arc where Kenpachi finally gets a Shikai. As such, it will be written assuming that none of that arc has happened.

Note 2: I’m aware of the dispute surrounding the translations of “Hawk” and “Falcon” in the Berserkverse. I’m using “Hawk” here, since that’s what I’m used to.

Prologue
Nosferatu Zodd blinks and looks around at the unfamiliar area. Could this be the merger of the worlds? he thinks.

“No, something else is at play.” He remembers the Skull Knight – his old enemy – striking at the Hawk with a sword which ripped space and time. That must be it… He sheathes his sword and holsters his axe, looking for someone to test himself against. He seeks the strongest.

The sound of clashing swords comes from the 11th division’s barracks in the Gotei 13. The combat division was sparring under the eye of their Captain, Kenpachi Zaraki, and his lieutenant, Yachiru. The door to the dojo slams open, and a messenger runs in.

“Someone’s been massacring Soul Reapers in Rukongai!” the messenger says, out of breath, “Captain-General Yamamoto requests that Kenpachi Zaraki deal with the problem.”

“Oh? Is he strong?” Kanpachi asks in response.

“We haven’t been able to get a fix on his power,” the messenger replies, “It’s as if he has no reiatsu.”

“No reiatsu but still massacring soul reapers?” he says, baring his teeth in what would otherwise be called a smile. “Come, Yachiru. I think I’ve found a good opponent.”

Kenpachi walks through the Rukongai district, passing the remains of broken Zanpaku-tō littering the ground. A small hill of broken Shinigami corpses lies in the distance. His eyes widen momentarily as a tattered captain’s Haori flutters past in the wind, with 十 emblazoned within a diamond on the back*. The predatory smile returns to his face in an instant, intrigued by the strength of his opponent.

Yachiru hops off, seeking high ground to observe the fight. Kenpachi closes in on his foe, who is sitting on top of the piled hill of soul reaper corpses. Kenpachi walks up to the bottom of the hill, and looks up at the man on top. He swings his sword down from his shoulder, drawing Nosferatu Zodd’s notice.

“You wear the white coat too,” he says, “Is that what you use to determine strength here?”

Kenpachi nods, and brings his sword up into a fighting stance. Zodd lets out a bestial guffaw and picks up his sword and axe, charging to meet his foe.

* Because fuck you, Toshirō Hitsugaya.

Battle
Zodd swings his sword and axe in a broad arc, aiming to strike Kenpachi from two sides. Kenpachi parries the sword and jumps back, avoiding the axe. As soon as his foot hits the ground, he kicks back off to meet Zodd in a headlong charge. A strike to his left is turned by the sword, one to the right – almost too fast to see – is hooked out of the way by the axe. A third strike to the head is similarly rebuffed, and Kenpachi disengages to avoid being slashed in the stomach. Suddenly, the warrior disappears from Zodd’s view.

Bells?

He moves on instinct, bringing his axe up in a short arc to his left while blocking his body with his sword. Kenpachi’s strike meets steel, and he pushes back again, landing in his fighting stance, slasher smile on his face. “Oh ho… so you can hear my bells? You might be fun.”

“You’re not using the magic of this place?” Zodd asks, confused. “No nonsensical phrase to change your sword?”

“Hrmm… Even without the advantage the others had, you think to defeat me? Very well. I’ll take you up on that,” Zodd says, and breaks out into another charge, bellowing “'''GIVE ME A FIGHT, BOOOOOY! MAKE MY BLOOD BOIL!'''”

The two warriors clash again, the ringing sound of metal echoing across the plain as dozens of strikes are initiated, parried, and dodged within a few seconds of each other. The two warriors strike again and again, trying to find an opening in each other’s technique – unstoppable force meeting unstoppable force. They are evenly matched, until a swing from Zodd’s axe takes off Kenpachi’s eyepatch.

Kenpachi resumes the fight, raining blow after blow on Zodd, who is forced on the defensive. Far in the distance, Yachiru watches, frowning. The opponent had taken off Kenpachi’s eyepatch; he couldn’t hold back any more. The harsh screech of steel biting into steel continued for a few seconds, until another swing slices directly through Zodd’s sword and cuts a deep furrow into his arm and chest.

“Goooooooood,” Zodd says, “To think I’d meet a third human who could fight so well...” The warrior casts aside his axe and starts to grow and change form, wound healing. The apostle roars, bestial bloodlust in his eyes finally matching his form. He punches Kenpachi, who goes flying past a shocked Yachiru and slams into a tree. He drops to the ground, coughing up blood as Zodd closes the distance, slamming down with his fist.

The impact shook the forest, but the dust clears to reveal Kenpachi standing in a shallow crater, blocking the strike with his sword. He ducks under the apostle’s legs, turning and aiming to hamstring the beast. His blow is stopped short by Zodd’s tail, which whips into Kenpachi’s chest, sending him flying again. He gets up, coughing up more blood.

“If I don’t get serious,” he mutters, “I might actually die.” He looks up at Zodd, who is advancing further. “Did you know,” Kenpachi says, louder, “that a sword is stronger when you wield it with both hands?”

Zodd draws up short, amusement in his eyes. “You had to be taught that?” he asks, incredulous.

“Yeah. But I hate fighting that way. It makes things too easy.”

Kenpachi takes up a proper Kendo stance, holding his sword with both hands. Zodd continues his charge, swinging with his fist for a strike. Kenpachi slices forward, and the arm is chopped clean off above the elbow. Rather than waste time staring in shock and declaring such a thing impossible, as most of Kenpachi’s opponents would have done, Zodd steps past his opponent and picks up the severed arm like a club, twisting to land a solid blow on Kenpachi’s back.

The 11th squad captain goes flying again, and picks himself up to find that Zodd had reattached his arm, as well as growing a pair of wings. The apostle charges forward, snapping his wings behind him to give himself extra lift and speed. He bears down on Kenpachi, who is just able to get his sword in a simple diagonal block.

Zodd’s single horn pierces through Kenpachi’s heart, while the stump of the other pins the sword between the two. Zodd flies up in the air, keeping Kenpachi pinned until he reaches the apex of his climb. Once there, he slams the warrior off his horns with his fists and gives a powerful kick with his hooves to send his foe flying towards the ground. He follows up with a dive, spreadinghis wings to break his fall at the last second and landing on Kenpachi, who takes the full force of both impacts, followed by a flurry of punches aimed at his face. Zodd looks up from the messy carnage that remains, eyes meeting Yachiru’s.

The apostle still has fighting to do.

Opinion
This was a simple power v power match, and Zodd had more power. Not much else to say.

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