KOV VIII: Round One: Peak Vs Feral Nova - Mount Olympus

Dust lay upon every divine surface like dirty snow, layers upon layers of untouched, ancient remains of the once revered Gods of the Mighty Mount Olympus. Not a foot print in sight, old cups of wine lay nestled in the corners of the castle, cobwebs and spiders having inherent the area. Dust covered mirrors, the strange sound of emptiness lingered through the stone halls, stale air, air thick with dust and long since forgotten memories. Shafts of light burst through tiny gaps in the stain glass windows and occasionally brought some life to the castle, occasionally.

Absolute silence, not even the sound of birds singing through the once pristine gardens, the mighty castles only residents weaved their webs between the spindles of the stone stairs and from the decaying ceilings to the wall, old cobwebs sat stiller than a night’s sky; it was a strange day for Tempest. Mount Olympus had once harbored the greatest sights a man could behold – Beautiful women, savvy swordsmen, and lavish wine. “Tsk,” A sullen sigh escaped the assassin’s sentimental lips, lowering his stature and picking up an old children’s book.

He recognized the tale; an ancient tale, one which spoke of the great wars with the titanic Titans. Much divine blood had been shed those days; but it was nothing in comparison to this desolation, hollowness, depression, even. How did the God’s die? Where did they go? Who killed them and why… Would he ever find out? Probably not, but that had not stopped him accepting the invitation to this event. King of the Vine; some called it. The Celestial Wars, others had. As an authentic time traveler and adventurer, it was only natural for the warrior to participate.

And so he stood. Having traveled through the entire castle and finally come to his last location for this day. The royal courtyard; once used for executions and ironically, weddings. Now it would be the stage to the greatest battle Mount Olympus had ever seen. With a crack of the neck, the Preternatural Warrior took his position. Unaware who his opponent was but keen nonetheless. In his hand was a sword made from a smooth, silver metal, with its cross guard shaped like an elegant eagle’s wings, the pommel shaped like an eagle's head for added affect, and attached to the assassin's back in a darkened sheath, was a Kukri dagger, most famous for its inwardly curved edge and usage by the Ghurkhas of India.

Upon arrival of his foe, be it ally, or enemy, the esoteric assassin would engage his challenger with a merciless approach, brutal, yet effective. Fast, yet skillful. His palms would be thrust out in a wide arc, sending out a puissant wave of telekinetic energy to hopefully shatter his anticipated opponent’s eardrums and disrupt their equilibrium the moment they entered the fray. This would be followed up with a ruthless, and rather hasty, bombardment of two throwing knives, hopefully aiming to lacerate his expected opponent’s thighs and further impair their attacks.

@peak:

Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek Gods, or at least, former home of the God’s, it was something Stephanie had always wanted to see in it’s former glory. Every step placed upon the celestial flooring a layer of dust could be seen arising up along her red boots, as if the was trying to grasp onto her for life. Her emerald eyes gazed upon the once majestic household of the Greek God’s. While dirt, grime and insects now take over, you could still feel the chaos that went through the divine home and through the trained eyes, see every area of struggle by the marking along the walls, flooring and furniture. Weaponry could be seen scattered along the flooring while old stains of blood clung onto the stonewalls even after all this time. Nothing but eerie stillness of the air seemed to reside now.

Stephanie couldn’t help but chuckle, for years she called herself ‘The Fire Goddess’, a title given to her by her former friends at We Are Legend, and now, here she was, about to do battle in the home of former God’s that once ruled with a mighty fist. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was a bad joke, The Fire Goddess about to do battle in a area in which the Greek God’s obviously lost a battle in.

“I wonder if Olympian Champion was here for this.” She whispered to herself as thoughts of her friend in the Prime world came into her mind. She began to wonder if he used to sit with the God’s eating their fruit, drinking their wine. Catching site of a plate of fruit, she couldn’t help but reach out and grasp a simple pomegranate, or at least a simple one to the naked eye, but her mind instantly went into the tale of Persephone and the Pomegranate. She tucked it away in her pocket as her eyes picked up one of the many golden laced fabric that covered the walls shift from the movement of the air. She wasn’t alone here, her contender for the KOV must be here as well. Adjusting her helmet for a second she took a rigid breath, her hands now adjusting her gloves, making sure they were secure on and then her fingers running along the hilt of her blade to make sure it was still there.

Moving more quickly she made her way towards an opening that lead outside to a courtyard. Every step she took a memory flooded her mind, every past KoV battle ran through mind in just milliseconds, every attack, every punch landed, every wound she sustained, every victorious win and humbled loss. The sound of heart could be heard in her ears as her Ninjan blood began to boil with excitement, even her demon spirit could be felt clawing inside her mind wanting to be freed so it could feel it’s bloodlust.

She had it planned out, give a witty introduction, then attack, hopefully get the first strike. But that plan flew out the window, before her foot could plant upon the courtyard an invisible energy slammed into the Fire Goddess, catching her completely off guard, the attack causing her to slam forcefully on the ground, her ears ringing as a wave of dizziness came over her. But that burst of invisible energy potentially saved her from the blades that came flying above her body and slamming into the stone wall behind her. “Damn it!” She slammed her fist on the ground, grunting as she stood. Thank goodness for her helmet, protecting her ears in the process, but the ringing could still be heard as her body still felt just slightly off balanced.

Her Ninjan eyes then glared at her opponent as she struggled to walk down the steps without accidently tripping over her feet. He was cloaked in different layers of materials with a hood that covered the upper portion of his face. Judging simply on his clothing and ways of attacking her, she made the assumption of him being an assassin. She couldn’t help but smile, even though he already made the first attack. “Didn’t your mother teach you some manners?” She spoke out towards her attacker. Trying to stall some time to quickly get familiar with her surroundings. “You always greet a lady when she walks into a room, not attempt to kill her.” An alter was seen, surrounded by marble pillars that stood tall, some broken in half while others were stained with blood or covered in vines that began to take over the area. “I Have an idea, I’ll forgive you for you’re rudeness if you give up now.” She paused for a few seconds as she could see the foundation of the courtyard to be weak. She’s seen enough. “No? Well damn, I guess I have no choice now.”

Tired of throwing away time, her feet pushed her forward as she began rushing towards the silent killer. By the way her body carried her, it was still visible she was trying to get over his first attack. Lifting her left hand above her head, a ball of fire appeared but quickly turned into a blinding flash of white fire that engulfed the area for a split second in attempt to blind him. Leaping up into the air, her body soared higher than any normal human as she used her Ninjan strength to propel herself upward. Drawing her blade with her right hand she brought it up above her head, grasping it with both hands her body began to quickly decend, using her flight ability to return to the battle ground more quickly than humanly possible, she came down just above him, forcefully bringing her blade downward, aiming (or at least attempting) towards his right shoulder, hoping to sink the blade’s teeth into his flesh.

Upon landing on the ground in a crouching posistion, she could feel the foundation tremble under her power as she released the blade with her left hand and thrust it forward. With no effort, a blaze of yellow and red roared to life from the palm of her hand, rushing towards him like a serpent striking down at it’s prey.

Quickly standing back up, and still holding firmly onto her blade, her body quickly erupted into a golden inferno, her flames crackling and dancing around her, as if it was alive and speaking to the Ninjan Warrior, lighting up the courtyard in the process. "Come on, give me everything you got!" She challenged him as she stood, awaiting his next series of attacks.

@feral_nova:

As the renowned Feral Nova valiantly stepped up to battle, the royal courtyard was in for one hell of a fight, if the Gods were still alive the entire improvised arena would have surely erupt into a deafening applause. But they were alone. No noise, nothing but the faint footsteps of a woman echoing through the court as she descended the steps.

Then suddenly, the assassin executed his prepared attack, a wide arc of pure telekinetic muscle roared through the area like a lion as though the winds themselves had declared war, scattering pieces of debris that sat on the battlefield in all directions as Nova herself was picked up, her petite frame momentarily suspended within the air before being forcefully slammed back down like a worthless sack of rocks. The assassin did not rejoice, instead, he merely gazed towards the vibrantly colored superwoman.

This was Feral Nova, but which one? The cardinal assassin had seen many in his travels, and had often wondered if he could have best her in battle. “My mother died during birth,”He flatly responded, not in aggression, but as a matter of fact, almost an explanation. Although in truth, his mother had died before he was even born. He was not born of natural causes, he was a genetically craft baby, yes, he did have 50% of the genes from both parents, but only one was alive by the time he was conceived.

“And this is no room…”With a daring dash he rushed forward, his blade majestically whistling through the cold air before a blinding ball of ebullient light escaped Nova’s palm and engulfed the entire area, blinded, and utterly helpless, Tempest felt the hot sting of steel biting through his right shoulder, the woman’s blade being expertly dug into him as it touched his bone with theatrical effect, crimson blood graffitied and stained the moonlit ground as a howl of pain escaped the Wanderers lips, causing him to instinctively jump back and avoid any further attacks, yet to do so, the woman's blade was agonizingly yanked from his penetrated shoulder, causing blood to further cascade from his body down towards the now drenched floor, and his silver blade dropped onto the ground with a loud clang, rattling as it settled.

Panting, the assassin collapsed onto a single knee, golden eyes peered back towards Nova as a telekinetic bandage was used to stop the bleeding. “Hm,” He chortled, shooting her a venomous stare, “…pretty trick” and suddenly, like Mount Olympus had come to life and all of the deceased spirits of the God's bellowed and roared in unison, the entire arena started to violently shake. “How about you see mine?”

He was no amateur, a grandmaster of telekinesis, a skill cultivated through experience and refined through war. He had no need to use his palms to battle. As he started to slowly stand up, his sword was pulled back to his side and used as an improvised walking stick as it was quickly grasped by his left palm, the area continued to shake (in an attempt to disorientate Nova) as a gigantic slap of rock thunderously erupted up from the ground and fixed itself in the air, and with a display of elite athleticism the Esoteric Assassin jumped, sending a single spinning kick through the air as his foot flamboyantly smashed into the rock, the rock, which broke into hundreds and hundreds of tiny pieces which blitzed through the air like deadly daggers, aiming to embed themselves anywhere they could.

Seamlessly, the assassin touched the ground once more, his feet barely kissing it's surface prior to darting forwards in a zig-zag motion, using his stones as a preliminary hit to stun Nova or at least distract her, he crossed the distance in record time, and jumped, propelled by unnatural strength as he soared through the air like an elegant eagle, violently turning his hip to the side and extending his left foot, attempting to smash his hardened left shin straight into the side of his opponents face with earth shattering force.

@peak

“Awwwkwaaarrrddddd….” Stephanie sang out to herself regarding the death of the assassins mother. “But, it does explains so much, like why you’re dressed like that.” The experienced hero smiled. “And don’t argue with me, this isn’t a debate match, this is a battle of AWESOMENESS!” She was impressed with his actions, able to dress his own wounds during a battle and effortlessly avoid her follow up attack. She hadn’t seen someone move like this since her last KoV battle.

“How about you see mine?”

A chill ran down her spine with excitement as he spoke those words. “It’s about damn time.”

In that instant, the battle ground began tremble, as if Olympus had awaken once more. Without question Nova levitated herself just above the ground, her flames keeping her off the trembling foundation only for it to violently erupt into chaos. A mass of stone broke apart from the ground, rising above the two until the acrobatic slayer then vaulted himself into the air, his body fluidly shifting towards the mass stonework until a single kick caused it to turn into shards of stone, and in that second, came downward towards the Queen of Pyro like a deadly hail storm striking at anything without mercy as if the God's themselves were angry with her.

“What a cute trick!” she teased. It took little effort for the Goddess of Fire to raise the temperature of her flame, going from golden glow to almost a blinding white at a blazing 9,200 Fahrenheit (5,000 C). The assault of stone disintegrating into nothing as soon as it rained upon her shield of inferno. “Come on, I know you can do that better than THAT.” She spoke too soon, her Ninjan eyes caught the site of the assassin rushing at her quickly, even with her flames hot enough to turn any human into ash before they could touch her. “ARE YOU CRAZY!?” Nova shouted as she quickly dropped the temperature of her fire, but not completely. Leaving still at a skin searing 200° F (93° C), her flame at a deep crimson as his left shin suddenly collided with the left side of her face, striking at her zygomatic bone (cheek bone), the force of impact so strong that caused the hero to fly back and through one of the mighty walls.

A earth quaking 'BOOM' echoed through Olympus as if two boulders collided, debris could be seen descending around the experienced hero. “OOOUUCH!” She sat up, crumbles from the wreckage covered along her body as her fingers gently pressed against where he struck only to have a sharp pain rush through her face along with crepitus it was fractured, but that wasn’t all, opening her mouth seemed to hurt and her vision in her left eye was slightly blurred as blood trickled from the inside of her mouth. “Well… I did ask for it.” She mumbled, spitting out the warm iron tasting fluid as she pushed herself up, dust clinging onto her body as she looked around the room she crashed into. It seemed to have been an armory. “Whoa..” she whispered as she looked around, bows, swords, shields… weapons of the God’s and Goddess’ laid all around her. Hephaestus crafted each of these majestic weapons, and no doubt, they could be the edge in battle she could use. Quickly pushing herself up from the ground she could feel the left side of her face begin to swell. It seemed the rouge warrior was strong enough to fracture Ninjan bone, but was he strong enough to withstand the weapons of God’s? Her eyes lit up as they focused on one weapon, a single thunderbolt of Zeus.

The power radiating off the weapon that could be felt by any warrior was intense and the divine glow just confirmed that this was indeed a weapon to be feared. Without question she grasped onto the bolt with her right hand, a surge of energy shot through her body, her eyes glowing yellow she flew into the air, the sky coming to life as thunder clouds began roaring in just above the now disfigured courtyard. Without saying another word she raised her right arm high above her head as lighting lit up the heavens. Forcefully bringing her arm down bolts of lighting came volleying downward, attempting to strike down predator like competitor.

But that wasn’t it, landing back on the ground her left hand began to burn with pure white flames as she clasped both hands together, fusing her intense embers with the bolt belonging to the father of the Greek Gods. Greeting her teeth she could feel the power begin to intensify as she then out a ferocious battle cry was let loose, at the same time an explosion of fire and electricity. The blast of current and inferno pushed through from every direction, consuming the courtyard like hungry shoals of piranhas that have the sent of blood, every pillar and stone baptized in the shocking blaze, even pushing through the inside of the former God’s home and racing upward to the blue, lighting the mountain up as if the God’s had returned.

@feral_nova:

Slowly floating back down towards the safety of the ground, Tempest looked ahead, his arms folding across of his lightly armored chest as his golden eyes gleamed with a predatory passion. The enormous hole which Nova had been flung through was big, big enough that one may have assumed that she had perished. Tempest never assumed. Then suddenly, an unexpected bolt of lightning roared through the cold air and smashed into the assassin’s chest with the force of Zeus himself as he was helplessly flung backwards into a stone pillar, the air in his lungs was with ripped out as Nova’s fury continued to envelop Mount Olympus in all of its fury as though she was the Goddess of fire herself.

The golden-hued flames of her blaze rippled through the air and lit everything the eye could see alight. Hundreds of thousands of years’ worth of history burned. Marble pillars devastatingly crashed upon the ground causing tremor after tremor to rock the area like a boat on a raging sea. Timeless statues simply melt under the heat…And as the fires slowly simmered down to a light whisper in the breeze, there he was, Tempest, his back pressed against a piece of gigantic rubble out of sight, having teleported away from the inferno and vanished, half of his face burnt beyond recognition, his chest was bare, save for numerous scars and the horrendous scorch marks littering his torso.

He closed his one eyelid, the other had been burnt off, and a single blackened palm touched the ground, utilizing his telekinesis in a form of radar sense as a 3D image of the entire castle was manifested into his marvelous mind. He saw her, standing in all of her glory like a warrior Goddess who had managed to slay a dragon. “Ugh…” He coughed, crimson blood escaped his lips as it trickled down his bare chest, shaky, and dazed, he only hoped she would not find him, and using the 3D image his mind had conceptualized, he acted.

Pressing two fingers onto his palm to strengthen the connection to his abilities, the esoteric assassin mimicked the timeless art of bloodbending, if only for a moment, trying to drain some blood from the woman’s head down into her body and cause her to become severely disorientated, instantly after, however, the assassin abruptly teleported into the weapons room, his eyes desperately looked around for a weapon, anything. He saw it. Apollo’s ancient bow, and he felt hope. Grasping at three arrows, the assassin vanished once more only to reappear in the courtyard a moment later, brandishing the famous bow in his palms; he could almost feel the energy coursing through its frame, it yearned for combat, and as Tempest raised and stabilized the bow with telekinesis, it glowed royal red, as though it had been awaken from an ancient slumber, and it was ready to fight.

The assassin masterfully wielded Apollo’s glowing bow with the grace of the God himself, raising it to his dominant, and only working, left eye, the Oncoming Storm drew back, the Olympian steel arrow already loaded, until finally he lightly rest the corner of the arrow upon his burnt cheek, relying on his unmatched precision through experience and unrivaled visual coherence of his evolutionarily enriched vision for absolute accuracy in the execution of his shots, the Preternatural Warrior let loose the arrow, the arrow tore through the air like a bat out of hell, aiming directly for the flaming Nova’s chest, and again, in an instant, a second arrow was released, aiming to devastatingly embed itself into her right thigh, and as the arrows trailed through the air they released a majestic glow of golden power, the third and final arrow was loaded, aimed, and fired with masterful accuracy, poised straight for Feral Nova’s solar plexus.

Landing on the ground, breathing heavily Nova dropped to her knees, the power of Zeus bolt draining more of her energy than she hoped. Her weary eyes gazed upon the devastation of her last attack, what was once Mount Olympus was nothing more but ruins. “Maaaaybe I went just a tad overboard.” But what was really on her mind, was the destiny of the assassin. “It couldn’t have been that easy.” Her voice raspy as she forced herself to stand, her knees shaky, left eye swollen shut and bruised while her body ached from head to toe.

But it seemed she had gotten up too quickly, lightheaded dizziness swept over her suddenly as her world felt like it was going black around her as she tripped over some of the rubble landing on her hands and knees, nausea swept over her while her forehead trickled with sweat. “What-?” Was all that came out of her mouth, this was unnatural, she knew it and in that instant, she knew he was still out there.

Pushing herself upward she had managed to get up onto one knee before her eyes caught sight of a glistening light not too far away. Lifting her head up her Ninjan eyes focused on the The Son of Death, and the weapon that he yield. She was too weak to move out of the way, to try and avoid his attack. The two where in a stand off before Peak let the arrow go, whistling through the air as Stephanie took in a sharp breath and quickly brought her left arm upward, diagonally across her chest as the fatal projectile pierced through the center of her left forearm and into her chest. The power of the arrow mixed with power of the assassin was too much even for her Ninjan bones as she instantly felt a ‘CRACK’ in the center of her chest as her sternum fractured and a sharp pain went deeper into her chest. But that wasn’t all, another arrow embedded itself into her right thigh and a third directly into the center of her solar plexus. Each of these arrows coming in contact with Nova in just a second flat, too fast for the human eye to have been able to see.

Stephanie’s eyes widen in shock and agony as she could feel her heart fluttering viciously in her chest as her body fell limp to the left side against the rubble. It was obvious the arrow didn’t either completely hit the heart or at all because she was still alive and conscious, she had to thank her left arm that was currently pinned to her chest for that, hoping that her Ninjan bones slowed the arrow down just enough to stop it from doing too much serious damage. But looking down at her abdomen she could see a rush of blood oozing from her wound staining the crumbled foundation around her while her body began to turn into a ghostly pale. The solar plexus was home to nerves that ran through her body, and an aortic artery. If it pierced into it, that meant she was in more trouble than she liked. She couldn’t pull it out, that would cause more bleeding as she learned from her previous battles. With a shaky breath she grasped the fletching of the arrow with her right hand, grasping it as tightly as she could as it began to glow red, a sizzeling sound could be heard if close enough as Nova grit her teeth in pain, searing the wounds around the arrow to stop the bleeding. Her eyes then glanced down her thigh, well… guess that meant she wasn’t going to be wearing short shorts any time soon. Blood was oozing from the wound, but didn’t look to be anything too serious.

She was alive and that’s what counted. But she would be damned if she was going to go down now. Slowly using her right index and middle finger she dipped her finger tips into her own pool of blood as she brought it to the left side of her chest, beginning to draw a bloody pentagram upon it. “I refuse to go down now.” The pride of the Ninjan began rush more quickly as her eyes went from a bright emerald, to an eerie crimson. “From the depths of the pit, I call upon thee to bestow they power unto me. That your mightiest power shall grant me a fraction of thy power.” She paused for a moment before finishing the final three words that would hopefully give her an edge in battle. The power of the demon inside her could be felt clawing against her mind, begging for the final shackles to be released so it could give her the power to hopefully bring this battle to an end. Closing her eyes she took a shaky breath. “BRING UNTO ME!”

As soon as the final words were spoken, Stephanie's body began to glow an auburn color as her fingers turned into claws, her right hand digging into the rubble around her. Her eyes shot open, an eerie maroon her marquise shaped pupils contracting to life as she crawled up from the ground, pushing herself up and standing on her own, favoring her left leg more than the right. Moving her right hand with ease she looked down at her left hand, her forearm was still pinned to her chest, but it didn’t matter, just a minor set back. It was as if she was reborn again, and getting a second wind. Glancing down at the arrow in her thigh, ripping it out carelessly and glancing at it. “Apollo’s arrow, clever.” Her now distorted voice echoed through the wasteland of what was left of Olympus. She still felt a bit weak for awakening her demonic powers, loosing too much blood and her right leg was weak but it would have done more damage if it was her hip or knee, and yes, it would still slow her down a bit, but nothing she hadn’t had to work with before.

Without taking time to speak another word, she took off with eagerness to draw blood, licking her lips with hunger for a possible final assault. It was obvious to anyone that the demon was slower than she hoped, limping as she ran towards him, but still moving with surprising speed. Exposing her hellfire dripping claws she went in for the attack. She came head on towards Peak as she pulled back her right hand, her claws exposed as it seemed as if she was going to attempt to ding her soul staining claws into his abdomen, but as the gap between to the two warriors began to close, she suddenly shift her body weight, moving too quickly on her injured leg she stumbled, but continued to push forward as she attempted to get behind the clever killer. If making it behind him, she would then thrust her claw forward she took careful aim, attempting to dig her digits into his mid-thoracic spine. Without missing a step she took a leap back, her fingers reaching behind her as she pulled out the pomegranate of Persephone that is said to send the consumer to the deepest pits of the underworld to be trapped. Crushing it in her hands, her claw like hand then moving fluidly as they created three ciphers of hellfire the size of golfballs, each having a sample of the fruit. Without hesitation she pushed them forward, using her powers of heat manipulation to use the body heat of The Esoteric Assassin against himself. His body now, like magnet, to attract the potential underworld dooming attack, to his face. Unable to land on the ground without furthering injuring her leg she began to tumble on the ground, the arrow in her chest pressed deeper as she bellowed out in pain and the arrow in her abdomen being shifted into the point of causing her bleed once more.

Lightheaded dizziness swept over her once more, even with her demonic powers, the last attacks that were placed upon her were too much for her simple body. Forcing herself to stand, blood began to drizzle from between her lips, a low growl under her breath as she hunched forward, her heart feeling as if it was beginning to skip beats at an alarming rate.