#and keeping enemies within stabbing range is always good

[four-loose-screws]

FE7 Novelization Translation - Chapter 13 Section 5

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Chapter 13: Light (Section 5)

(All text is under cut for spoilers)

“...Uhai, why are you committing such evil…? Dammit, at least I can end your suffering as soon as possible!” Legault dodged Uhai’s arrows and lunged at him without hesitation.

He never imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that he would reunite with his departed friend like this, in a place like this.

As his anger towards Nergal became stronger and stronger, he swung his sword at Uhai.

But before Legault could get close enough, Uhai fired his bow, keeping him from getting within close range.

“Ah…!” An arrow stabbed into his left shoulder, sending a burning pain shooting through his body.

He’d always been unskilled in combat, and instead performed work that had him take his targets by surprise. This was not an opponent he could match and claim victory against. That was something he’d known since long before Uhai became a morph.

But that did not make him stand down.

“Gah!” Another arrow dug into his body. This time, his right thigh was shot. It was a lethal blow. His speed was his one good skill, and it had been taken from him. “Well, Uhai. Shoot me. I can’t move.”

The speechless puppet masquerading as Uhai drew his bow, and aimed the arrow directly at the space between Legault’s eyes.

The moment he was about to let go of the string, his body slowly slumped over, then finally fell off his horse.

“Are you alright, Legalt?!”

“...Geez, I was hoping you would have arrived a little sooner!”

Legault said as he flashed a sarcastic smile at Matthew, who was currently bringing his dear friend to his second death.

Legault was the decoy, and Matthew was the one who would launch a surprise attack from behind - that had been their strategy all along.

“We have to hurry and get you healed…”

“No, I’m fine. I can take care of this much myself.” Legault said as he pulled out the arrow in his left arm.

“Are you sure you’re okay? I just killed your friend.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. It is what it is. You should go support our other allies. This is no problem for me.” He added as he applied a vulnerary to his wound. 

Finally deciding that Legault looked like he would be fine on his own, Matthew ran back over to their other allies.

Legault tossed the now empty vulnerary, and limped over towards Uhai. Because he had been brought back as a morph, he was not a corpse, but a pile of white sand.

“I’m sorry you had to turn into this.” As Legault felt all of his strength leave his body, he touched the sand that had been his friend’s body just moments ago.

The arrow in his shoulder hadn’t posed a problem for him, but the one in his thigh pierced straight through one of his arteries, and blood was gushing out of the wound with no sign of slowing down. It did not seem like he would be able to stop the bleeding in time. 

If he could be healed by a Life staff, then there was a chance that he could be saved. But Legault had no energy left with which to call for a healer.

They should be focusing on healing someone stronger than him, who wasn’t of much use on the battlefield, anyway.

"Taking one enemy down with me is pretty good for me," he muttered to himself. "...I suppose I’m going to go join everyone now then, huh…?"

Legault closed his eyes and began to wait to cross over to the other side, when the voice of a certain loud cleric reached his ears.

“Ah, here you are! I found the injured person! Hurry up and thank me! I came all the way over here just to heal you.” She said, expecting a show of gratitude the moment she appeared, and immediately pointed the healing light of a Recover staff towards his leg.

“...What are you doing here?”

“Matthew asked me to help you. He said there’s a guy about to die any second now.”          

“Of course it was him…" A smile spread across Legault’s face. And not his usual superficial smile, but one that was genuine from the very bottom of his heart.

‘I’m sorry, everyone. But it looks like I won’t be meeting any of you again just yet…’ Legault whispered to them in his heart.

Serra asked, holding nothing back, “How are you smiling when you’re injured? That’s so creepy! What are you, some kind of pervert?”

ー

“I’m gonna send you right back to where you came from!!” Hector shouted as he swung Armads at Darrin’s morph.

He split Darrin’s lance perfectly in two, then cut Darrin himself in half, causing the marquess of Laus to literally crumble into sand. “Alright, now I’m gonna go defeat Nergal!!"

His newly acquired weapon Armads was unmatched in its might.

All of his blood was racing through his body, stirring up his excitement for battle.

The moment he started for the Dragon’s Gate, where he was sure to find Nergal…

“Look out! Behind you!!” A woman’s high-pitched voice screamed.

Hector trusted the voice without a single doubt, jumping to the right to move out of his current spot.

Brendan’s morph swung his axe down exactly where Hector had just been standing.

Hector swiftly fixed his stance and swung Armads. “Damn you! That was close!!”

His attack swung perfectly parallel to the ground, and cut deep into Brendan. To follow up, he immediately raised Armads into the air and swung it down atop Brendan’s head.

Brendan was still down from the previous attack, and could do nothing to stop Hector. The blow became lethal, turning his body to sand that scattered in the wind.

Having sent his enemies to their grave, Hector turned around and looked behind him. “You really saved me there, Florina!”

“...Ah, you… remember my name?”

“What are you talking about? When someone hangs around me as much as you do, of course I’d remember them, like it or not!”

Hector’s words made Florina blush and look away.

Florina had been a pain in his side over and over again since she saved him in Caelin, having stood around him multiple times, trying to start a conversation to thank him, just to run away every time.

And she still hadn’t properly thanked him.

She steeled her resolve, and started to open her mouth. 

But Hector spoke before her. “C’mon, let’s go get our next enemy. We have to hurry and help everyone!”

“Ah, um, yes!”

She couldn’t bring herself to thank him this time, either.

'If we win this battle and all come back alive, I'll do it then!' Florina said to herself as she followed after Hector, already leaving her behind.

-

Mani Katti and Sol Katti.

Wielding the two spirit possessed swords in perfect harmony, even the strongest morphs were no match for Lyn.

“Haaaa!”

With a battle cry, she swung both of the silver blades and cut a cross-shaped wound into Ursula. Once she confirmed that Ursula had collapsed and was not going to get up, Lyn decided on her next target.

Kenneth’s morph had already fallen at her allies’ hands.

The only two remaining were the Reed brothers. Both stood before her.

“You two were exceptionally strong. I wanted to face you when you were both alive, but…” Lyn said, then immediately ran straight towards them.

Aiming for Lyn as she came directly at him, Linus swung his large sword down. Lyn jumped ever so slightly to the right, dodging his blade by a hair, then, aiming for his side, swung Sol Katti in her left hand.

But just before Lyn’s attack hit him, Lloyd stopped it with his sword.

Lyn quickly jumped back, putting distance between her and them.

Even as morphs, their bond was strong. They were already powerful enough on their own, and together, they were even more formidable foes. 

But Lyn had her own partner that she could rely on just as much as they relied on each other.

“Lyn of the Lorca Tribe, I am here to assist you!”

“Rath!” She glanced over at him for a moment, then charged towards Linus once again.

Not wanting her to get away again, Linus raised his sword above his head, and waited for her. But just before Lyn would have entered his range, she leapt to the left.

Linus blinked.

He lost sight of his target. She was immediately replaced by Rath, drawing back the string on his Hero’s Bow.

Lyn had cleverly hid Rath behind herself.

Rath fired his arrow, which flew directly into Linus’ windpipe.

The only morph left now was Lloyd’s.

Lyn tightened her grip around her possessed swords, then ran towards Lloyd.

He also came at her.

When they crossed paths, Lyn suffered a shallow cut to her side, but she felt Sol Katti cut into her foe’s arm. 

Lloyd stood still for a moment before turning around and rushing violently at Lyn again, still without speaking a single word.

This time, Lyn did not move, standing firm and waiting for him. She blocked Lloyd’s sword, aimed at her chest, with both of her own, then fixed her stance and swung both blades at the speed of light. Confronted with both Mani Katti and Sol Katti, he blocked one with his sword and sacrificed his left hand to take the other.

Her foe’s physical strength was greater than her own. She let go of Mani Katti, still lodged in his left hand, jumped backwards to avoid his counter attack, then moved as quickly as she could back towards him. With speed that could be considered godlike, she ran past him. When they crossed paths, Sol Katti’s blade cleanly sliced his chest open.

Lyn picked up Mani Katti from the sand that the morph’s corpse turned into, then turned towards Rath. “That went perfectly, Rath!”

“...It did.” He responded simply, and looked back at her, his expression as devoid of emotion as ever. "...This means the morphs have all been defeated."

"Yes!"

While Lyn and the others were all fighting the morphs, Eliwood and Athos had gone on ahead towards Nergal. They had to hurry after them.

"All there is left is to defeat the root of this calamity…”

"Yes, let's go, Rath!"

Rath was on his horse, so he went on ahead.

As his horse galloped forward, he glanced back at the woman following after him, from the very same plains as he was. At first, he’d thought of their meeting one year ago as fleeting, a crossing of paths that the wind had guided him towards.

But things were different now. Rath had realized that the place Lyn took in his heart was getting bigger and bigger.

As he stared straight ahead, he said to her, “Lyn… I vow to Father Sky that we will win this battle and survive…

“Yes, may we be granted Mother Earth’s blessing!”

☆

[therapardalis]

What Kind of Body of Water Are You?

Tagged by: @lucxsnorth Tagging:  @ferocioushonesty, @bountyman, @therealgamble, @corinnebaileyrp, @the-mjolnir-owner (should be fun ;)), @lxghtnxnggxrl and whoever else would like to.

A Bathtub

The only result that is warm. You are comforting, nurturing, and gentle. I imagine you were born in the month of June, January, or November.

There's something about you that when people are with you, they can be themselves to the greatest extent. You have to be careful though my dear, you are bound to be taken advantage of and exploited. My advice is to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, because you need to be able to keep a close watch on those who will think of you as someone who they can manipulate, and you need to have the upper hand.

However, do not let this make you go cold and heartless, because you are warmth, light, and golden rays of joy. Don't forget it.

Presented without comment, except for Ares sniggering in the background and Thera yelling “EXCUSE YOU, I AM A FUCKING DELIGHT!”

[mycological-mariner]

hello good sir can you give me some basic principles of waving swords around? i have a revenge quest to go on and little time to prepare

Absolutely, of course!!

Right, so a lot of this answer is going to depend on the type of sword you’ll be using. Rapier, broadsword, cutlass, gladius? So let’s go with handles instead. Two hands, one hand, or even a half grip (where you get a lot of your medieval swords where you can absolutely use both hands even if they don’t fit on the hilt; other hand for shield). A part of me really wants to break it down taxonomically

Next! Will this be a stabbing job or a, hah, a hack job? Hacking weapons can get kind of messy.. (see gladius). A lot of swords are made with either or in mind, although you can absolutely go stabbing someone with a cutting blade and vice versa - sky’s the limit, my vengeful friend! Sabres, however, are really nice because they were made to hack and stab and have a lovely range of movement (cutlasses are a kind of sabre! So let’s say you’re using something like that, though let me know if not and I will endeavour to better equip you!)

Now for the actual fighting

Let’s talk form! Stance should be wide and balanced, your dominant leg in front slightly bent but not so much your knee is over your toe. Dominant foot points forward, non-dominant foot points out - both legs are slightly bent. You wanna be able to move quickly and without losing balance so keep your back straight and centre of gravity low so you don’t get knocked down. There are two MAIN moves you should know: cross and double cross. A cross looks almost like a skip (it’s not) and is the type of movement you see most with fencing. You want to always keep your feet apart otherwise your opponent can throw you off. Good for quick movements while still keeping a good guard. A double cross is easier and looks cooler. This is where you just don’t bother with tiny steps and swivel on your front foot when moving forward, bringing your non-dominant leg to the front. Reverse this when defending. You go longer distances and good for attacks with more power behind them. A good slashing movement.

Your guard should always be on. With a sabre, this means the blade should cross your body when you’re not striking. Keep your elbow near your hip. You want a wide range of movement as an option, but you want to keep it within a bubble, your own space. When attacking, don’t attack wildly and don’t go too wide - look for an opening, create one of you have to. Eye contact is so crucial because that’s how you can predict where your opponent will strike. You can always turn a defensive move offensive. Let’s say they try to land a strike on your lower left which is undefended. You get in there first, deflect the blow but direct it in such a way that leaves them vulnerable, even if it’s only for a moment. A moment is all you’ll need. If you can get your opponent off their guard, you’ll be good. Attacks I’d avoid are overhead strikes. That leaves all of you open, so unless you’ve disarmed them, might wanna avoid this one. Recovery time between attack and defence is crucial, you don’t wanna take your sweet time coming back from a parried lunge back to defensive positions (trust me).

So in short!

Good stance is key, can determine the outcome of a fight before it even begins. Same goes for footwork. Stance: wide, centre of gravity: low (or lower than you’d use with something like a rapier). Any attack you make will leave some part of you open for attack. Don’t just hit their blade, hit their flesh! Their sword isn’t your enemy! Play up your strengths and know your weak points. Use their attacks against them. Don’t be afraid to fight dirty! Everything is a weapon! Precision!!

Some helpful tips:

I’ve broken enough fingers and cut my hand enough in duels to start wearing a heavy leather glove. Fight smart, don’t wear yourself out too fast. Black is always a great choice for fashion since blood doesn’t show as easily on it + it’s just Cool. If you wind up disarmed, trip them up! And always bring a backup knife. Nothing wrong with fighting a wee bit dirty! And, because I’ve made this mistake, don’t fight with an empty stomach, have a snack

I really hope this helps you! If you want to ask anything else, I’m always happy to answer any questions! Good luck on getting your revenge! <3

[flightlessangelwings]

How You Calm the Comandante

Comandante Veracruz x afab!reader (smut with no pronoun use)

Word count: 2.9k

Warnings: smut (18+ only), fingering, edging, unprotected sex, rough-ish sex (it’s actually fairly tame for V here lol), cockwarming, Veracruz-typical violence, migraines, fluff

Idea based off of this anon I got that I loved so much I had to write: Veracruz would be a fucking pouty angry man who takes it all out on his subordinates when he is sick/has a headache. They all pray he goes to see his girl cause thry can't take much more of his wrath! But Veracruz grumpily melts into a puddle when she fusses over him.

Gif credit: @ewan-mcgregor​

~

Comandante Veracruz was in a mood. He usually tended to be, but today especially he was extremely short tempered and irritable. He stalked around the compound where he was currently stationed with his men for training exercises with a deep scowl on his face and a don’t-fuck-with-me air about him. It made his men absolutely terrified.

His yells could be heard throughout the complex, and the men cowered in fear and just hoped that Veracruz’s wrath would not be directed at them next. They hid when they could, and did their best to appease him when they couldn’t. Even with how the comandante was on a normal day, this was exceptionally tough for the men.

Veracruz ducked into a shadowed corner and buried his head in his hands. The pain that rang through his skull was almost unbearable and he had never felt anything like this before. His eyes felt like they were on fire in his skull and every sound and light source felt like he was getting stabbed in the temple. No doubt this was a migraine, and a particularly nasty one at that.

With a heavy breath, Veracruz gathered himself again and moved back out to command his men. Today though, “commanding” took on a whole different meaning as he tried to cover his pain with shouts and screams. They ran dills harder than ever before, and Veracruz even pulled his gun on those who did not respond fast enough to his orders.

No doubt they were all terrified, and they had to do something about the comandante’s sour mood. Most of them just did their best and hoped that Veracruz would leave and go see you. He was always in a much better mood after his visits with you, and it did not take a genius to figure out why. The men began to think that some time with you was their only hope.

Veracruz’s lieutenant, his second in command, finally decided to do something. And, acting in the men’s best interest as well as Veracruz’s, he snuck out of the compound and drove to your place. He was the person, other than you, that Veracruz trusted the most. And he was the only one who knew where you lived. Veracruz kept it a secret for your own safety, but he also decided that he needed a backup in case anything ever happened and someone other than himself needed to get to you.

You opened the door with a surprised look on your face. You recognized the lieutenant, but you had no idea why he was here instead of Veracruz, “Is everything alright?” you asked.

He let out a deep exasperated sigh, “Not exactly,” he briefly explained the comandante’s mood and current violent rage, “He even shot one of the new recruits in the foot when he didn’t move fast enough,” the poor guy sounded so tired.

You let out a heavy sigh at that and immediately understood why he was here. With a nod, you agreed to come with him, even though you knew it broke protocol as well as several rules. You figured that since this was within the complex and they were only working on training exercises, it would be ok for you to sneak in to take care of your comandante. Besides, Veracruz had snuck you out into the field before so this was not nearly as risky.

The drive was quiet and the sun had started to set when the lieutenant pulled into the complex with you in the passenger seat. You were quiet in the drive, and you could tell that the man next to you relaxed visibly as he led you toward the comandante. Your overnight bag sat in your lap; you came prepared since you always tended to spend a good amount of time with Veracruz whenever you were together.

After he parked and guided you through the complex, you could see looks of relief on the men’s faces. You had to laugh to yourself; you knew they knew why you were here. Honestly, you felt bad for them, and you hoped that your visit would help. Veracruz may have kept you a secret from his enemies and anyone else, but his men knew exactly who you were.

The lieutenant stopped in front of a door with Comandante Veracruz’s name on it, and gave you a grateful nod and small smile before he turned to leave. You shook your head; all these tough military men and they needed you to calm the rage of their leader. With a half grin, you knocked at the door and you rolled your eyes when you heard his muffled yell on the other side.

When the door swung open forcefully, you were met with Veracruz’s scowl in your face. But, he immediately relaxed and dropped his shoulders when he saw that it was you. A fire still burned in his eyes, and you could tell that he was in a lot of pain, though he tried to hide it. He scanned you over as he breathed your name.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he snapped and immediately winced at the loudness of his own voice.

You weren’t intimidated by his attitude and you didn’t back down; you knew he would never do anything to you so matter what his mood was, “I was told you needed me,” you answered matter-of-factly.

Veracruz growled as he smiled through grit teeth. He grabbed your arm and pulled you into his quarters and slammed the door shut behind him. You were taken aback at how dark the room was, but you didn’t have time to dwell on it as the comandante tossed your bag to the corner and slammed you up against the door.

“V, what is it?”

His answer came with a heated kiss as he used his body to keep you in place. Veracruz’s hands ran down your body and bunched your shirt up and lifted it up over your head. You took the opportunity when he broke away to remove your shirt for a deep breath before his lips were on yours again. While his tongue tangled with yours, you clung to his shirt as he worked to unfasten your pants.

Just as the comandante loosened your jeans, you tried to fiddle with his own clothes, but he had other plans. He grabbed your wrists and pinned them up above your head with one of his large, strong hands while his other hand dipped down below your underwear. Veracruz swallowed the moan you let out with his mouth as he pushed two fingers into your cunt.

As much as Veracruz usually loved to hear your moans, his migraine did not allow for loud sounds in the room, so he kept his mouth on yours as he feverishly pumped his fingers in and out of you. Your muffled moans and the wet sounds from between your legs were almost soothing to him and strangely helped with the throbbing pain in his head. However, it created a new problem as Veracruz quickly got hard from the way you writhed and whimpered at his touch. 

You strained against his hand and bucked your hips, desperate for more. Veracruz grinned against your lips and picked up the pace. Your heat around his fingers was more comforting than he thought it would be, and the feeling of your body against his eased the pain he felt. Just as you were about to cum, however, Veracruz pulled away. He laughed darkly at the whimper you let out, and the two of you locked eyes for a moment before he reached out for you again and yanked your pants down. A shiver ran though you at the sudden rush of cool air against your skin, but you didn’t have time to dwell on it as the comandante led you back towards his bunk.

As you let him lead you into the room, you grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him in for another desperate kiss. You fumbled with the buttons on his shirt as he backed you up against his bunk, though you were not as quick or graceful as he was with your own clothing. A small yelp escaped your lips when you felt the back of your legs hit the edge of his bunk and you heard him chuckle softly against your skin. Veracruz let you remain standing so you could strip him of the rest of his clothes.

He watched with darkened eyes as you tenderly pushed his now open shirt off of his shoulders. While your hands worked to undo his belt, his own wandered all over your naked body. You let out a surprised squeal when Veracruz gave your ass a squeeze, and he only grinned at you in response. He always liked to turn things into a game with you, and as needy as he was for you, Veracruz enjoyed when he made things harder for you.

So he distracted you the best way he could: by touching and caressing your body in every place he knew drove you wild, especially with how sensitive you were after being edged once. Veracruz’s hand moved up your sides and he felt you shiver under his touch before he grabbed your breasts firmly. You gasped and leaned forward into his chest as he pinched your nipples and rolled them between his fingers. You moaned softly as you shoved his pants down, but your strength always started to leave your body as he played with you.

Veracruz took pity on you and let you go so that he could push his pants down. The moment he stepped out of them, he pushed you onto the bunk and you landed on your back with a grunt. The comandante crawled on top of you and groaned into your mouth as he kissed you passionately.

You sighed against his lips as you wrapped your arms and legs around him, desperate to have him closer to you. Veracruz kissed his way down your neck and bit down hard at the sensitive spot there, which made you moan loudly. He hissed at the sudden noise, but he was not as bothered by it. As long as it was your moans and cries, Veracruz could deal with the searing pain in his head.

He bucked his hips against you as his hand trailed down your body to your slit and he growled when he felt how wet you were. Perhaps a little too roughly, Veracruz pushed a finger inside you once again and you whimpered for a moment before it turned into moans of pleasure. He broke away from your neck for a moment to watch your face as he added a second finger and pumped them in and out of your body rhythmically. 

When you felt his gaze on you, your eyes fluttered open and you breathed his name in a desperate plea for more. You reached out for his length and began to stroke it slowly. Veracruz groaned as he rocked his hips against your hand before he realized his own movements. As both of you locked eyes with each other, you both found that you slowed your movements and just got lost in each other’s eyes. It was an intimate moment that didn’t happen often with Veracruz, but he came to treasure those moments when they do happen.

Just as the moment started, the comandante ended it as he pulled his fingers out of you and lined himself up at your entrance. In his mind, he thought that he could fuck his migraine away and use your body for his own gain. Of course, however, he would never leave you unsatisfied. Perhaps others liked to think differently, but Veracruz always made sure you had your fill when he fucked you, and he prided himself on his ability to make you scream so loud that you lost your voice for a brief time.

But because of the almost blinding pain in his head, Veracruz entered you much more slowly than he normally would. Regardless, you moaned and bucked your hips against him as he stretched your pussy out with his length. When he was fully sheathed inside you, he paused as collapsed down on top of your body. You felt so good around his cock, and Veracruz was pissed off that the pain in his head didn’t allow him to enjoy the feeling of you fully.

“V? You ok?” you asked in a hushed voice as you wrapped your arms around him.

Not one to be defeated by anything, Veracruz quickly recovered and pushed himself back up with a low groan. His eyes trailed down your figure as he took in the sight of you underneath him in the dim light. Even in the darkness, he could still see the outline of your body and he groaned when his eyes locked on to your pussy with his cock buried deep inside it.

The sight set off something within Veracruz and he planted his hands on either side of you and started to pound relentlessly into you. Immediately, you threw your head back against the firm mattress of the bunk and cried out in pleasure as you clung to his shoulders. 

But the comandante soon changed positions and he brought his arms down and hooked them around the back of your knees. He used the leverage to hike your legs up and folded you in on yourself. The action drove his cock even deeper into your pussy and you both groaned at the action. The comandante stilled himself at the new angle for a moment and just relished the feeling of your cunt and the look of sheer pleasure on your face.

“Mine,” Veracruz spoke in a low growl for the first time as he thrust into you again.

Your cries filled the room, but Veracruz didn’t care. Where others' sounds felt like a stab in his head, your sounds were music to his ears. He wrapped one of his arms around your thigh to reach your clit and rubbed furious circles. You clawed at wherever you could reach as you bucked your hips against his and felt your orgasm build up already.

“Yours…” you whispered as you held onto his knees, “V… I’m close…”

His grip on you tightened at your words as he sped up his thrusts, “Come, cariño.”

That was all it took for your climax to wash over you. Your whole body trembled as you came with his name on your lips. Your inner muscles clenched on his length as your legs shook on either side of his head. And your orgasm triggered Veracruz’s own as he growled your name as spilled his seed deep inside you. The warmth that flooded his body was the welcome relief that he had chased all day. 

Once Vercruz rode out both of your orgasms, he collapsed down on top of you. His cock stayed buried in your pussy as he let all the tension in his body go and just covered you with his body. You let out a surprised grunt, but you immediately caressed his sides to let him know you weren’t hurt. You didn’t want to lose the connection to him just yet.

He buried his face in the crook of your neck as you wrapped your legs around his waist and moved your hands up to stroke his head. Veracruz stayed still on top of you as you ran your hands through his hair a few times before you gently massaged his scalp. You felt him tense for a moment before he just melted into your touch. Normally he hated his hair touched, but you had a feeling this would help ease the pain he felt.

With a smile, you focused on the back of his head first and rubbed circles at the base of his skull. You felt how tight the muscles at the base of his neck were and you were determined to get them to release. His head became heavier on the top of your shoulder as he groaned softly and you knew you achieved the effect you wanted.

Next you ran your hands up the sides of his skull and rubbed small circles on the pressure points there. You found the grooves of his skull and pressed harder there to relieve the pressure that came with a headache. After a few moments, you changed direction and scraped your nails along his scalp in a soothing manner. 

The connection between you and Veracruz was unlike anything else before. He remained still and calm on top of you, his softened cock still inside you while you soothed his aches. It was an intimacy that was unmatched and you would give anything to stay like this forever. This was a first for Veracruz too, and little did you know that he would wish for the same if it were possible.

You stayed comfortable underneath him while you continued to work on his scalp for a long while. His weight on you was a welcome one, and as you rubbed at his scalp more and more he felt heavier and heavier.

“V…?” you whispered against his ear.

His response came with a soft snore, and you realized that he fell asleep at your touch. Between how he wore himself out in the heat of passion with you and your soothing touches afterwards, Veracruz couldn’t stay awake any longer. His face stayed nuzzled against your skin so you couldn’t see that his expression had softened, but you were alright with that. You placed a soft kiss to the side of his head before you shifted yourself slightly underneath him so you could fall asleep as well. 

~

Notes: I hope that anon sees this because I loved that though so much I just had to write it! And honestly, I had a lot more fun writing the non smut part of this lol. As always, taglists are open!

[captnjacksparrow]

Hello. Really like your content.

Everyone thinks Sasuke sacrificed him life for Naruto once, during the land of waves arc. I think it's twice. There are still some homophobes out there who think Sasuke didn't kill Naruto because he wanted power but not the way Itachi wanted. Man, his excuse (on a whim) is sooo flimsy, a blind person can see it.

I can't imagine how they can come to this conclusion. The fact that killing Naruto would have upgraded his sharingan to Mangekyou, just as Itachi has advised, would have made him so much more powerful. Going to Orochimaru definitely meant one thing. Sasuke would have to 'die' in order for Orochimaru to take over his body. He would rather do that, but not kill Naruto. Even though he had a solid opportunity. And Naruto was the only one that could have caused Sasuke to achieve Mangekyo.

He looks absolutely broken and spent after vote1, as he is walking away. Because he realises that he would rather die a slow death than kill Naruto.

Thanks for the ask Anon ❤️❤️

There are still some homophobes out there who think Sasuke didn't kill Naruto because he wanted power but not the way Itachi wanted.

Hmmm, Let’s see. 

Sasuke reawakened his Sharingan for Naruto in Land of the Waves arc, matured his sharingan in the VoTE1 for Naruto. He was willing to kill Naruto for Mangekyo Sharingan by piercing Chidori. This love doujutsu never served Sakura. 

If Sasuke managed to kill Naruto just like Itachi wanted, and he got his Mangekyo Sharingan, This undeniably still proves that Naruto is the most important person than anyone in Team 7 for Sasuke to awake such a great power. 

But Sasuke had many chances to kill Naruto in VoTE1. It’s not because of Itachi that he did not kill Naruto. Itachi was more of an afterthought. It’s just that Sasuke simply couldn’t because he loves Naruto more than his Goal. He proved this many times in this series.

If Sasuke considered Sakura to be the important person or great love, he should have evolved his sharingan when Gaara pinned Sakura with his sand. 

Sasuke is a person who always does something first subconsciously. And then gives a reason later to convince himself and others that he did it purely for a self-serving purpose. 

Proof?

He saw Naruto was hungry. He immediately gave his food knowing full well about the consequences if he gave him. When asked about why he did what he did?

Here you go. He gave you the reason. But only after taking the risk. 

Sasuke has every reason to not offer food. And yet he did. Because towards Naruto, he always acted subconsciously. In other words, his body always moved on its own. 

Alright let’s move on to the real deal. 

I LEFT YOU ON A WHIM...

Let’s see. 

What is a whim?

So, it means, you decided to do something for sure but your mind changed at the last moment. 

So far, so good.

But, do you call it as a whim if your mind always changes when the moment occurs more than once? 

Well, I call it as a plan. 

Moment 1

Sasuke could have rammed his chidori into Naruto. Instead, he balled up his fist and never even aimed for his vital spot just shows Sasuke’s whim here. Moments later...

Moment 2

Alright, Sasuke could have stuck a kunai into the unconscious Naruto here. Instead Sasuke is embracing ‘his weakness’ and Naruto’s warmth for one final time from a mere centimeters away. 

Yeah, this is another one of Sasuke’s ‘whim’ to leave him alive.

Moment 3

Here, I am seeing million possibilities of how Sasuke could have killed Naruto. 

For a starter,

This is a perfect jutsu, Sasuke developed to pierce through the enemies at a long range. He used this same jutsu to fight Orochimaru, Itachi and even killed Danzo. Why didn’t he use this against Naruto who is within that range and be done with it?

Instead Sasuke came extremely close to Naruto and try to draw a sword which he cannot even draw quickly. And FYI, to stab someone with a sword, you need a certain distance, and with that close proximity, Sasuke has zero chance to stab Naruto. 

And since there are no thunder clouds at that moment, he possibly couldn’t have summoned ‘Kirin’, when he raised his hands. So, It’s all an elaborate joke, in my opinion.

It’s just like you said, anon,

Going to Orochimaru definitely meant one thing. Sasuke would have to 'die' in order for Orochimaru to take over his body. He would rather do that, but not kill Naruto. Even though he had a solid opportunity.

He was ready to give his body to Orochimaru rather than killing Naruto for so called ‘whim’ and power. The power he so much desired was brimming right before his eyes in the hideout in the form of Naruto. But he can’t kill him. He was simply begging for everyone to stop his tantrum.

This time, Sasuke never gave the reason, why he left him alive, like in VoTE1. But he indirectly hinted us that he simply couldn’t, after 50 or so episodes later.

So, are you telling me that he was smiling peacefully at the name of a person whom he left alive on a whim but not because of the good memories he shared with that person??

Well, Keep joking. 

All these scenes I cited above doesn’t need shipping lens at all. You simply need some comprehensive reading/viewing skills and common sense. I think those homophobes don’t have any.

In short, Sasuke always acts without thinking and search for an excuse later when it comes to Naruto. While the excuse he comes up with may show his stronger persona but in reality, the things he does subconsciously shows with whom his weakness lies. That person is clearly Naruto and no one else. That’s exactly why Sasuke wanted to kill Naruto and fails invariably. 

[prurientpuddlejumper]

Death Threats

Summary: What if the people threatening Barba went after you, too?  

Warnings: Angst. Injury. Fluff. (I realized the timing puts this in the episode Heartfelt Passages, so that was a busy day for poor Rafi.)

Dedicated to @teamsladsandgents​ for inspiring me to get stabby.

2,256 words

You thought he punched you, the man in the elevator. It wasn’t until the doors chimed open and he was striding quickly but casually from the building that you realized you were bleeding.

The inch-wide slit in your shirt took a moment to start bleeding in earnest as you stood in shock, time frozen along with your body. Then thick, dark amounts of it began streaming through your fingers.

The elevator doors were sliding shut before you thought to stumble out with your last ounce of strength—to scream for help—before your body sank to the ground, leaving you alone in your metal coffin. You tried to sit up again, but it hurt and made more blood come out.

You couldn’t reach the elevator buttons.

You were so tired.

The funny thing was, you weren’t afraid. Just disappointed. You always thought you’d turn into an action hero if you were attacked—that adrenaline would awaken some ferocious, hitherto unseen warrior within, like Jason Bourne.

But it all happened so fast.

It was over before you noticed a blade in his hand. Over before you processed that he had said something to you, just before that dull punch in your gut.

“That ADA you’re fucking sticks his nose in the wrong people’s business.”

It was strange that you weren’t thinking about your mom or your best friend of ten years. As you pressed as hard as you could to stem the bleeding, you didn’t see your whole life flash before your eyes. The only thing on your mind was your boyfriend of the last several months, the sarcastic lawyer who kept so many walls up, and the petty argument you got into earlier about his canceling lunch plans again.

None of it seemed real. Didn’t seem like the way the story of your life ought to end—bleeding out in an elevator.

It was getting hard to concentrate on what to do next.

OK. The buttons wouldn’t work. Too far to reach.

No one can hear you scream.

Phone.

Your phone was in your pocket, but you had to take one of your hands off of clamping your gut to reach it. Blood streamed through your fingers—so much blood from such a small hole. Your hand was too slick with it and shaking to grab hold of the phone. If you could get it, you could call 911.

“Work, you fucking hand,” you thought. You thought that was an undignified last thought. It should be something profound. Poetic.

But no. Your last thought was going to be swearing at a Samsung.

Tired.

You never remembered if you managed to get the phone from your pocket or not. It didn’t matter anymore.

The last thing you remembered thinking about was Rafael finding out you were gone, his eyes red from mourning. Blaming himself. You wished you could tell him… If you died, you wouldn’t be there to cup his cheek, to make him smile again. To tell him what you whispered to the dark elevator, alone.

“It’s not your fault, Rafi.”

***

The man’s name was Felipe Heredio, a lieutenant of the BX9 street gang. There was already a warrant out for his arrest when he stabbed you. ADA Rafael Barba identified him in a lineup as the man who was stalking him only an hour after a neighbor found you lying in a pool of blood. The fact that he was already in police custody might have been relieving to you if you were conscious. You might have felt proud that it was Barba who ensured he was arrested.

And your heart might have broken when Barba’s phone rang, and his entire world stopped.

***

Rafael’s eyes were red from crying when you woke up with oxygen tubes in your nose, and your hand cradled in his. Your throat hurt more than anything else, oddly, which you would later learn was from being intubated for surgery.

The first word you croaked upon regaining consciousness was, “Sorry.”

A collection of empty coffee cups was scattered around the feet of his chair so he could stand vigil for however long you had been out. His eyes were not only red and wet, but bulging with that jittery, over-tired, caffeine anxiety.

You knew how busy Rafael was. That it was a weekday (technically, it was already tomorrow), and he’d have court in the morning. What you didn’t know, because he didn’t want to weigh you down with his world, was that Barba had already mourned one death today, and that one more loss might break him.

You were sorry for causing him so much trouble.

Rafael was having none of it, of course. He tried to keep his voice from shaking when he told you, “Why in god’s name would you be sorry?” followed by barking, “Stop that—don’t try to sit up. Nurse!”

His bedside manner was well and truly atrocious.

The next hour was a dizzying blur of nurses checking your vitals and helping you use the bathroom, then answering a uniformed officer whose questions you could barely understand through the morphine haze.

When it became clear what had happened and why, Rafael became unusually quiet. All of his follow-up questions and complaints of, “is this really necessary? Can’t you do this later?” fell away. He slumped in the visitor’s chair beside your bed, his hand still holding yours, but in pensive silence until the officer finished, leaving you alone except for the security detail at the door.

Then the apologies came. The heavy confessions that he’d been receiving threats for a year, and this was all, all his fault. Admittedly, if it weren’t for the morphine drip dulling everything, you might have been pissed off that he knew this might happen and kept it to himself. He kept so much to himself, you had to read about his cases online to know what was going on in his life. But his face—which you always thought babyish, with his smooth cheeks and lips ever-ready to flash a sarcastic smirk—was drawn, making him look old and haggard. He was too serious, too raw to possibly blame him.

“I’m so sorry for putting you in danger. I never should have gotten you involved in this.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is,” he choked. “I’ve been getting threats since I indicted those cops, and I haven’t exactly been on… anyone’s good side. I should never have started dating you.”

Like a slap in the face, that sting made it through the morphine. You jerked your hand out of his.

“That came out wrong. It’s true, though. I was selfish to think I could…” He gave a melancholy sigh as he sank back in the chair. “It will be safer if we keep our distance from now on. This will never happen to you again.”

You never imagined you could get stabbed and have your heart broken on the same day, or that the latter would hurt worse.

“Then what are you even doing here?!”

“I had to know you were OK. But as long as I’m getting death threats—”

“Wait, wait. You’re saying you’d rather give up being with me than give up a legal battle with powerful enemies?”

His eyes widened and he stared like a deer in the headlights, only where the deer was an insensitive workaholic, and the headlights were the blinding rays of truth. It wasn’t even a surprise that he hadn’t thought of it that way—this was every fight he’d had with an ex just before they broke up with him.

“I, uh—”

You grabbed his face and dragged him down into the softest kiss, which was not what he was expecting. He almost yelped (though it melted into a whine) when his fiery hot, coffee-flavored lips hit your cool ones. When he pulled back, lips wet and parted, his brow furrowed in confusion over still-widened eyes.

“You are… the sweetest.” Your hand lingered on his cheek as you gave a doped-up-on-painkillers smile. “The most selfless, noble… bravest… amazing man I have ever met. I love you so much.”

“I… what?”

“Rafael”—your thumb lazily stroked his cheek—“I know how much you care about me. Even though you’re married to your job and it’s frustrating as hell sometimes, I’ve never been insecure that you don’t love me enough. I know you never tell me about your cases because you want me to be able to sleep at night. You worry about me too much. And you always look so nervous whenever I leave, like you think I’m never coming back this time.

“So the fact that you would sacrifice your own happiness before you’d let an injustice go unanswered… that’s incredible. You do nothing but give a voice to the voiceless all day, working yourself to the bone without considering the cost to your personal life. You’re like a superhero, ADA Barba.”

A short breath of a laugh escaped his lips as his hand came up to the side of his face to cover yours. His eyes were watery, and he looked like he was about to break down again as he bitterly whispered, “A superhero who almost got you killed.”

“I’m not leaving you, you know.”

“Cariño. If anything happened to you, I couldn’t—couldn’t…”

“Nothing’s going to happen. It’ll be OK. I’m not leaving you alone.”

A tear wavered precariously close to the rim of his eyelid until he turned away, rubbing his face. It was gone when he turned back. “You could have died because of my fucking work! I’ve never given you the time you deserve. How do you still want to be around me?”

“Hey, someone has to be there to protect you when you get yourself in trouble,” you grinned.

Rafael Barba couldn’t take any more. He bent over the hospital bed and wrapped his arms around you, doing his best not to snag any of the many tubes coming out of you or put any weight on anything below your diaphragm, but hugging you to him as tightly as he could. You felt his trembling breathing in your hair, and hot wet spots pooling on your neck.

“I don’t deserve you.”

Your free arm closed over his back, stroking his broad, tense muscles through his shirt. “I’m really glad I didn’t die,” you whispered, finally allowing yourself to feel scared now that he was here. “I didn’t want to die yet. Not like that.”

“I’m sorry.” He breathed in, and his arms tightened protectively. “You have no idea how terrified I was. I’m so sorry…”

“Shh,” you whispered. You clung to him, soothed by his familiar cedar and citrus scent, fainter now after a long, harrowing day, mixed with the masculine smell of sweat.

“I’m glad you’re alive, too. I can’t lose you. I can’t. I love you more than anything.”

Soon—too soon, because you wanted to continue talking—you drifted to sleep in his arms. And once again too soon, you woke up with your entire abdomen on fire, and nurses bringing you pain medication. Rafael was still there, half asleep next to you in the narrow bed.

He didn’t leave you.

Even if it put you in danger, he would rather be beside you, making sure you were OK than cutting you out of his life and hoping the bad guys got the memo. He couldn’t put you through that pain, even if he could do it to himself. Especially when you pondered aloud to him whether you’d survived because you were thinking about him—that you refused to die before seeing him again, knowing what a wreck he would be.

Recovery was long, and interspersed with doing nothing but fall asleep when you’d rather stay awake, and not being able to sleep at all. Rafael (and his security detail) moved into your apartment when you were released from the hospital so he could take care of you—as grumpy and bossy and sarcastic as his bedside manner might be.

You swore you were going to sign up for Krav Maga or Cobra Kai or something once you could exercise again, since apparently you were not a secret knife-fighting ninja deep down. Next time, you wanted to be a badass who could fight back, and never let anyone harm your overzealous ADA when he kicked the hornet’s nest.

Eventually, you would convince him that it wasn’t his fault that bad guys had acted like bad guys. And he would convince you that taking care of you wasn’t a burden—that the emergency time off from work was worth it. He started replacing “sorry” with “I love you.”

In the end, while you wouldn’t say being stabbed was a good thing, or that you’d choose to be stabbed again if you had the option, it did ensure Heredio was put away for a long, long time. It left you with a cool scar, and a new catchphrase for expressing your displeasure—“I’d rather be stabbed again than do the dishes!”

Fine, it also left you jumpy and made your chest tight whenever you found yourself alone in an elevator.

But most importantly, it brought down the walls Rafael had been keeping up around himself. He talked to you more. You talked to each other more. And he remembered to—on occasion—take time out of his heroic, selfless life of battling injustice, and selfishly spend it with you.

• ● • ━━━━━─ ••●•• ─━━━━━ • ● •

@beccabarba / @itsjustmyfantasyroom / @dianilaws / @permanentlydizzy / @mrsrafaelbarba / @madamsnape921 / @astrangegirlsmind / @neely1177 / @onerestein / @delia26 / @stormtrooperofficerbrowneyes / @storiesofsvu​

[tigerkirby215]

5e Katarina, the Sinister Blade build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games. In b4 Tumblr gives me ToS for this picture.)

In my defense I had this build planned since pre-Tasha’s. With Katarina being absolutely nuts in preseason right now along with her just generally being one of League’s most popular champs I’d have to get around to making a build for her eventually.

Look it was either her or Zac. The only other build I really want to do right now is Miss Fortune and truthfully I’m kinda stumped on her. This build isn’t a build it’s a cry for help.

GOALS

Preparation - We’ll need to always be ready for a fight, with a weapon in hand and ways to rush in.

Shunpo - We’ll also need a way to jump on our foes, or jump away.

Death Lotus - When push comes to shove we’ll need to shred through everyone close by spinning and throwing daggers at a rapid pace!

RACE

Katarina is a human but with some special, magical talents. I’m sure by now people know my aversion to Variant Humans and my love of Eberron Dragonmarks so the Mark of Finding is perfect for finding marks and ending them.

With the Mark of Finding you get some Ability Score Improvements but thanks to Tasha’s we can get a +2 to our Intelligence and a +1 to our Dexterity. You also have Darkvision up to 60 feet, and Hunter’s Intuition, letting you add a d4 to Perception and Survival checks. Finally Finder’s Magic giving you some innate spells.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You’re an assassin who hops, skips, and jumps around the battlefield.

14; INTELLIGENCE - For whatever reason Katerina does AP damage? I mean she did. Now she builds Kraken Slayer because lol Rito balance.

13; CHARISMA - People don’t only main you because you’re strong.

12; WISDOM - Kata in lore is a bit of a hot-head but Wisdom is attached to many skills that an assassin needs.

10; CONSTITUTION - You’re a squishy midlaner.

8; STRENGTH - We simply don’t need Strength and with your build I doubt you have much. Even if jumping around like that requires a lot of muscles in the legs and chest.

BACKGROUND

So apparently Katerina is part of a Noxian Noble family? Regardless as a Noble you gain proficiency in History but I’d suggest swapping your Persuasion proficiency with Intimidation instead. You also get proficiency with a gaming set and a language of your choice.

Thanks to your noble birth you have a Position of Privilege, meaning that other nobles will welcome you within their circles and common folk will do their best to please you in order to avoid getting a dagger in their throat. You can even secure an audience with a noble if you need to! Perhaps you need to put a knife in their throat? An assassin doesn’t ask questions.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Starting off as a Rogue for skill proficiencies also because yeah duh. As a Rogue you get proficiency in four skills from the Rogue list: Acrobatics is an obvious choice, Athletics will help your poor Strength score, Perception will help you spot incoming hooded assassins, and Stealth will let you do Rogue things. Rogue things like Sneak Attack if an ally is near an enemy or you have advantage, granting you an extra d6 on the attack roll.

You also get Expertise in two of your skills: both Stealth and Acrobatics make sense for an assassin. Speaking of assassin Thieves’ Cant will let you communicate with them in a way that your enemies can’t understand. And to top it off Finder’s Magic you can cast Hunter’s Mark once per Long Rest. Smite and Ignite to get First Blood.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues get Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. "Never play fair."

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Third level Rogues get to choose their Roguish Archetype and there’s two important things about your knives:

They do magic damage (for some reason.)

You throw them a lot.

With that in mind we shall be going for the Soulknife from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. As a Soulknife you get Psionic Power for a pool of d6 Psionic Energy die that can be used for a variety of features. Psi-Bolstered Knack will let you boost your ability checks as long as you’re proficient, and Psychic Whispers will let you keep assassination plans to team chat.

Of course what we’re really here for is Psychic Blades, a magic d6 psychic damage knife that you can make when you attack which can be dual-wielded and thrown up to 60 feet. You can also attack again with your Bonus Action if you already stabbed with your main action, but the extra attack will only do a d4 instead of a d6.

Speaking of magic: you also get Locate Object from Finder’s Magic. Perhaps not as useful as Find Person, but thievery isn’t beneath you. Your Sneak Attack also increases to 2d6.

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get an Ability Score Improvement: turns out Dexterity is pretty important for a Rogue so increase that by 2.

(Artwork by Jennifer Wuestling. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 5 - WIZARD 1

Time for an AP boost. First level Wizards get Spellcasting because what else did you think they got? You learn three cantrips and six leveled spells when starting out as a Wizard, even if you can only prepare a number of spells equal to your Wizard level plus your Intelligence modifier:

CANTRIPS

Instead of making a dinky d4 knife empower it with Booming Blade for some Thunder damage, and even more damage if the enemy moves.

To twirl around with Voracity Sword Burst will strike everyone near one of your daggers with your knives.

For a long ranged damage tool that inflicts Grievous Wounds Chill Touch will let you make sure your lane opponent doesn’t run away and heal up.

SPELLS

Mage Armor will help you avoid a few more hits.

For a Bouncing Blade (sorta) take Ice Knife to hit your target and anyone close to them.

For a shield thanks to Gunblade (like it’s TFT) take False Life to bolster yourself somewhat.

Disguise Self will be helpful for any infiltration missions.

Detect Magic likewise is useful to locate any magical traps.

Every good Rogue has a backup plan: Feather Fall is always useful in a pinch.

You also get Arcane Recovery, allowing you to recover spell slots with a combined total level of half your Wizard level.

LEVEL 6 - WIZARD 2

Second level Wizards get to choose their Arcane Tradition. There is actually a school for magic knives and that school is the art of Bladesinging! As a Bladesinger you get Training in War and Song for proficiency in Performance along with a one-handed melee weapon of your choice: for whatever reason Rogues don’t get proficiency in Scimitars so grab that I guess?

But much more importantly you can invoke a Bladesong as a Bonus Action, which lasts for 1 minute but ends early if you are incapacitated. (Or if you don medium or heavy armor or a shield, or if you use two hands to make an attack with a weapon. I guess.) You can also dismiss the Bladesong at any time with no action required.

While your Bladesong is active you gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Intelligence modifier, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, you have advantage on Acrobatics checks, and you gain a bonus to Concentration checks equal to your Intelligence modifier. You can activate Bladesong a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.

You can also learn more spells like Color Spray for a getaway option, or Cause Fear of incoming ganks.

LEVEL 7 - WIZARD 3

Third level Wizards can learn second level spells like Mirror Image to be everywhere at once, and Misty Step for legally not Flash.

LEVEL 8 - WIZARD 4

4th level Wizards get an Ability Score Improvement: more Dexterity means more AC and deadlier stabs with your knife.

You can also learn more spells like Invisibility for some Duskblade resets, and Enhance Ability (ty Tasha’s) to make sure you’re the best around. And you can learn another cantrip like Prestidigitation for some generic utility sorcery.

LEVEL 9 - WIZARD 5

5th level Wizards can learn third level spells like Haste to up your APM, and Spirit Shroud to make all your stabs all the deadlier.

LEVEL 10 - WIZARD 6

At 6th level you get an Extra Attack as a Bladesinger, but unlike most Extra Attacks you can also cast a cantrip along with attacking! The interesting thing about this is that (rules as written) you can attack twice after casting Booming Blade with this! And depending on your DM you might even still have your Cunning Action!

And on the subject of spells you can learn two more such as Clairvoyance for some Farsight Alterations, and Nondetection to... not be detected...

(Artwork by Atey Ghailan. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 11 - ROGUE 5

5th level Rogues get Uncanny Dodge. When you’re hit with an attack you can use your reaction to halve the damage. Additionally your Psionic Energy die increases to a d8, and your Sneak Attack increases to 3d6.

LEVEL 12 - ROGUE 6

6th level Rogues get Expertise in two more skills: Perception will help you avoid ganks and Intimidation will help you extract information.

LEVEL 13 - ROGUE 7

7th level Rogues get Evasion. If you’re forced to make a Dexterity save you can make some pro plays to dodge, taking no damage on a successful save and half damage on a failed save.

Your Sneak Attack also increases to 4d6, so you can jump onto them after dodging their skill shot.

LEVEL 14 - ROGUE 8

8th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement: since your Dexterity is maxed let’s invest in that Intelligence... sorta. The Observant feat will let you increase your Intelligence by 1 along with granting a +5 bonus to passive Perception and Investigation so you can watch those wards, and the ability to read lips! Definitely helpful for an assassin.

(Artwork by Katie “TeaTime” De Sousa. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 15 - ROGUE 9

Hey how about we get your actual abilities at total level 15? Finally with level 9 in Soul KInife you get Soul Blades for two new abilities that use your Psionic Energy die. Homing Strikes will let you add your Psionic Energy die to an attack roll if you miss, and Psychic Teleportation will let you throw out a knife and teleport to it!

Something something read how the ability works yourself because these are guides on how to make a character and I won’t tell you what every class in Tasha’s does. Oh your Sneak Attack also increases to 5d6 now.

LEVEL 16 - WIZARD 7

7th level Wizards get 4th level spells like Phantasmal Killer to make your own jungler (one who’ll actually gank!), and Dimension Door to Teleport into lane. Or out!

LEVEL 17 - WIZARD 8

Level 8? How about an ASI? You may notice that we have two uneven ability scores: increase both your Intelligence and Charisma by 1.

You can also learn more spells but there honestly isn’t much I want from fourth level so hop back to level 3 for Sending. But you can also take Greater Invisibility for some Duskblade resets. Look I just really need a 5th level spell but it’s hard to justify magic on a champion who throws knives and nothing else.

LEVEL 18 - WIZARD 9

Time to finally get the last ability we’re missing: Death Lotus. Or more precisely Steel Wind Strike to hit everyone with your daggers and then maybe Shunpo to them after the fact. Speaking of Shunpo for seemingly unlimited jumps take Far Step, allowing you to be everywhere at once. Just know that you’ll only have one 5th level slot.

(Artwork by Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 19 - ROGUE 10

Picking up our last two levels in Rogue: level 10 means another ASI. Capped off Intelligence woo!

LEVEL 20 - ROGUE 11

11th level Rogues get Reliable Talent, meaning that you can’t roll below a 10 on any skill you’re proficient in. As a capstone skill let’s check what the minimum roll you can get on your skills is:

27 on Acrobatics and Stealth

24 on Intimidation

23 on Perception

21 on History

18 on Performance (Bladesinger lul)

15 on Athletics

And to top it off your Psionic Energy die increases to a d10, along with your Sneak Attack capping off at 6d6!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

They fear my weapons? I am the weapon - Regardless of your choice of tools you are extremely deadly. On one hand 6d6 sneak attack daggers you can apply 3d8 Booming Blade damage to, and on the other hand plenty of potent spells like Haste and Spirit Shroud.

If you run, you won't see me stab you! - You are also incredibly mobile with Misty Step, Far Step, Psychic Teleportation, Bladesong, and just general Cunning Actions. Not to mention that Bladesong gives a big boost to AC which combines well with Uncanny Dodge and Evasion.

A victory is sweetest when it leads to another - Rogues are meant to be skilled professionals and you are certainly that. The skills you are proficient in can be boosted by psionics. Oh and 28 Passive Perception thanks to Observant is just a little bit nutty.

CONS

Ready for trouble? - While you have many a skill you have many more that are lacking. You can put on a mean face sure, but for an important check like Arcana your psionic potential won’t save you.

Better dead than dull - Your spell slots are limited, and quite notably you only have one 5th level slot for Death Lotus IE Steel Wind Strike. While magic can supplement you nicely remember to ration yourself appropriately.

Come on, live a little... while you can! - You know what class doesn’t have a lot of health? Wizards, and half your levels are in Wizard. With a 10 in CON and most of your hit die being d6s your enemies won’t even need to hit you to Power Word Kill you.

But as an assassin you prove why your house is the best in the business. Talk is cheap and you’re always prepared: go in with knives at the ready, take out your target and anyone in their way before slipping out unscathed. You can always reset after a rest; just be sure to remember your cooldowns.

(Artwork by West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #45: Mata Hari

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re building the living embodiment of clickbait, Mata Hari! If this post ends up getting five times as many notes as normal, it’s okay, I understand. Mata Hari is another bard/rogue combination, this time mixing the college of glamour with a mastermind. She can help out in combat, but her strongest points are going deep undercover to learn an enemy’s secrets.

You can read the level-by-level breakdown below the cut, or check out the summary spreadsheet here.

Race and Background

Mata Hari is a Human(though like the Phantom, if you want to spice it up Siren is a good place to start), giving her +1 to all stats. Mata Hari is the textbook example of a Charlatan, giving her proficiency in Deception and Sleight of Hand, as well as the Disguise and Forgery kits. She also has a False Identity she can assume, complete with disguises and documentation. Furthermore, she can forge documents she has seen before.

Stats

Your highest stat is Charisma: you’re so good at charming people they literally can’t tell you’re an enemy unless they’re told so, that’s pretty charming. You’re also a dancer, which requires a lot of Dexterity (or it would if dnd stats made sense). Next is your Wisdom, a good spy needs to know when they’re being watched. Follow this with Intelligence, you’re not unusually smart, but we need to keep your physical scores as low as possible. Constitution is next, because we’re never going to dump that if at all possible. Finally, we’re dumping strength, because dex builds don’t need it.

Class Levels

1. Rogue 1: We’re starting the build as a rogue because they have the most proficiencies, and they’re ones you want. At first level, you become proficient in Dexterity and Intelligence saves, as well as Persuasion and Performance for obvious reasons, Stealth for even more obvious reasons, and Insight. You can’t string people along if you don’t know what they want.

First level rogues get Expertise in two skills, doubling their proficiency. Your Deception and Persuasion should be as strong as possible, so let’s start there. You probably won’t use your Sneak Attack that often, but it’s always there if you need some extra damage on a creature you have advantage over or an ally within 5′ of. Finally, your Thieves’ Cant lets you talk to other rogues without people catching on, assuming there are other rogues. Maybe you should coordinate with another party member.

2. Rogue 2: At second level you get your Cunning Action, letting you disengage, dash, or hide as a bonus action. Ideally the enemy won’t know you’re working against them, but a way to get out of danger without being turned into a shishkebab is always a good idea.

3. Rogue 3: At third level you become an official Mastermind, becoming a Master of Intrigue and a Master of Tactics. Master of Intrigue gives you proficiencies you already have, two languages, and the ability to mimic speech patterns and accents that you’ve heard for more than a minute. There isn’t a limit on how long you can copy an accent for, so that’s why Mata Hari started the game with a thick scottish accent, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it’s the only accent I know, shut up. As a Master of Tactics, you can Help as a bonus action, and it has a range of 30′.

4. Rogue 4: 30′ is some rookie numbers, and we can improve that by using our first ASI on the Tandem Tactician feat. This increases your helping range by 10′, and you can help two people at once if they’re targeting the same enemy. Toss in some thieves’ cant or a foreign language and you’ll be useful for your party no matter which side you appear to be on.

5. Bard 1: When you multiclass into bard, you  get one skill proficiency of your choice. Perception is a good choice-again, you need to know if anyone’s watching you before you do the whole “stealing state secrets” thing. You’re not making that mistake again.

First level bards have Spellcasting based on their charisma as well as Bardic Inspiration, a bunch of d6 you can throw at people to help them.

For spells, grab Friends, Unearthly Chorus, and Charm Person for extra charming action, Message because learning an enemy’s secrets doesn’t mean much if you can’t pass them off to your friends, Disguise Self to help you infiltrate no-humans-allowed areas, and Sleep for ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

6. Rogue 5: Your Uncanny Dodge lets you react to avoid half the damage of an attack. Getting hurt is bad, stop doing it.

7. Rogue 6: Your second round of Expertise boosts your Performance and Insight. You’re good at dancing, and stealing things from the saps watching you dance. Now you’re even better at doing both of those.

8. Rogue 7: Seventh level rogues gain Evasion, severely reducing the amount of damage you take from dexterity saving throw attacks. If you’re consorting with the enemy, some splash damage is going to hit you. Now it’ll hit you less!

9. Bard 2: You’re now a Jack of All Trades, adding half your proficiency to all nonproficient checks. You also learn how to sing a Song of Rest, adding a d6 to any healing your party does on short rests.

For your spell this level, grab Animal Friendship. Your charm might not hit most creatures, but it does work on Orion, so I’m counting it.

10. Rogue 8: Your next ASI is going to improve your Charisma for more charming and more Bard fun.

11. Bard 3: Speaking of Bard, here’s your last level in it. At third level you get Expertise in two more skills, pick Stealth and Sleight of Hand- you’re a spy, and those tend to help.

You also graduate from the College of Glamour at this level, giving you two more features. The Mantle of Inspiration lets you burn a bardic inspiration die as a bonus action to heal a couple people and let them move without causing attacks of opportunity. Is your wizard facing down a raging barbarian? Now they’re not.

You also learn to put on an Enthralling Performance, letting you charm a number of creatures once per short rest after you perform for a minute or more. They won’t fight for you unless they would anyway, but they’ll be good to you while they’re charmed.

Speaking of enthralling, Enthrall is your final bard spell. It causes any number of creatures within 60′ of you to make a wisdom save, and on a failure they have disadvantage against perceiving creatures who aren’t you. If you’re at the bar with your friends and your real friends show up, that could be a problem. This spell will keep everybody groovy for a while.

12. Rogue 9: You’re now an Insightful Manipulator, meaning if you chat up a creature for 1 minute outside of combat, you can learn two of the following characteristics: its Intelligence score, its Wisdom score, its Charisma score, or its class levels. You might also learn some of its history, and that last bit is the real goldmine here. You can’t be a fake manic pixie dream girl if you don’t know what hole in someone’s life you can pretend to fill.

13. Rogue 10: For this level’s ASI, you become a Linguist. This gives you a couple extra languages to pad out the number of countries you can pretend to be from, and more importantly lets you write down codes. Sometimes you need to talk to your party and you can’t get an opening for Message or Thieves’ Cant; this will help out.

14. Rogue 11: You now have Reliable Talent: any skill you’re proficient in will always have a roll of 10 or higher. This means your deception and persuasion rolls have a baseline of 24 that they’ll always be at or above, so your cover story is pretty much unbreakable.

15. Rogue 12: Max out your Charisma with this ASI for better lying, spells, and more inspiration.

16. Rogue 13: Thirteenth level masterminds learn Misdirection. If there’s an attack heading your way, and there’s a creature within 5′ of you between you and the attacker, you can react to make the attack hit them instead. This means if you play your cards right, your terrible AC is secretly someone else’s. Hang out around that guy in plate mail an get your party to send one attack your way each round, and he’ll be a pincushion in no time.

17. Rogue 14: You get Blindsense this level, letting you know the location of any creature within 10′ of you as long as you can hear. This isn’t particularly useful for this build, but you’re not one to turn down free things.

18. Rogue 15: You now have a Slippery Mind, giving you proficiency in Wisdom saves. Most of your stats aside from charisma aren’t great, so take what you can get.

19. Rogue 16: Use your last ASI to improve your Dexterity and Constitution. You aren’t using these that often, but if you go to stab the big bad in the back an miss, it would be really awkward.

20. Rogue 17: For your capstone level, you gain a Soul of Deceit. Your mind can’t be read unless you will it, and you can’t be magically compelled to tell the truth either. Falling into a zone of truth mid-job is a rookie mistake, one you won’t be making.

Pros: You’re an expert manipulator, knowing exactly what buttons to push to trick people into doing what you want. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about a fight breaking out, because your entire fighting style is letting someone else take care of it. Some advice here, a shove there, and soon enough you’re the only one still standing.

Cons: Your entire not-fighting style means you won’t get to use your sneak attack, and 9d6 damage per turn is a lot to just ignore. Skimping on bard levels leaves you with very little magic each day, and not getting the Font of Inspiration especially hurts. Finally, some games simply won’t work for you. Being a master of seduction doesn’t help when you’re fighting automatons. Also, like 90% of the evil groups in D&D are slavers; you probably don’t want to try and cozy up to them. Even when there’s an enemy army you can worm your way into, you might be forcing your DM to run two games at once, which they won’t appreciate. 

Next up: We’re finishing off the assassins with someone we’ve already built twice. Kind of.

[amenomiko]

Thank you for the request! As usual I’m sorry for the late post. Ahahaha. Ha. TT_TT anyway I hope you like it <3

IkeSen Warlords x Underground Hero MC

Nobunaga

Hero Name : Fireball (Ironic. Ohoh)

Quirk: Fire User

Weakness: Will burn something by accident if she have a fever.

-“How ironic.” Is the word that she said when he called her “Fireball”.

-When he found out about her identity, that’s where he understood what does she mean by ‘Ironic’. ‘Fireball’ itself is the name of her, as an Underground Hero.

-She is basically a fire user, and a strong one at that, to Nobunaga’s amusement, especially when she didn’t hesitate to follow him to battlefield.

-But her weakness may hurt her own ally as well. Because..

-“Haachiuuu QAQ!!”

-*BOOOM*

-Hideyoshi gasped to the burnt breakfast, and ran to the kitchen. “___! You are not allowed to help the maids in the kitchen until you get better, you understand?”

-“B-But- HAACHIUUU QAQ!!” Another raw chicken is burnt into crisp.

- “No buts. Your fever will burn the ingredients and Nobunaga-sama is taking this chance to suggest us to have konpeito for breakfast.” He growled, followed by a long sigh.

Hideyoshi

Hero Name: Aquamarine

Quirk: Water User

Weakness: Her tears will change into pearls when she cried, so if anyone didn't know that she is a hero, she might be kidnapped.

-She is very soft, gentle, and very empathetic towards anyone. Just, anyone.

-Too emotional, she can cry easily.

-Hideyoshi get to learn about her pearl tears when she was nagged by him, and one of the vassals saw her pearl tears and kidnapped her the very next day.

-Despite that, she is very strong as her power is deadly. It can be changed from a liquid to a solid form, and any source of water is like her servant that serve her.

-Even though there's no source of water in field of war, she can still summon it, as to say, she is not fully dependent on source of water, as she is a "water" herself.

Masamune

Hero Name: Silent Chao

Quirk: Invisible weapon user, particularly accompanied with a hand fan as weapon, that acts like a sword and a hand pose like a gun will act like a gun.

Weakness: She can't use her power fully if she is separated with her hand fan. She could use a paper, but it won’t be 100% effective. And, if she playfully make a pose of hand gun, she might accidentally shoot someone.

-His first question is: "Can it be used to cut ingredients?" which earned a glare from her.

-But how ironic she use it as a knife to cut the ingredients for cooking-

-Masamune misused her fan by locking her movements, and swing her hand to cut Hideyoshi's pants.

-"Is that... 'All Hail Nobunaga' written on his fundoshi--"

-When they become lovers, she nearly shoot him because she's does gun pose when she replied to one of his cheesy pick-up lines with "Aaayyyy 😏👉 <3 and-

-*BANG!*

-He went pale when the wall has a smoky hole in it.

-"Hyaaaa Masamune I'm sorry! I didn't mean to QAQ!!"

-"Heh. It's alright lass- *Bonk!*"

-The paper scroll fell directly on his head and he fainted in instant.

Ieyasu

Hero Name : Melodia

Quirk: Voice

Weakness: If she cry (out of fear or extreme sadness), she might break glasses and people’s ears will be damaged more than usual damage she can cause.

-Her voice is very soothing and beautiful. She can make enemy fell asleep, or confused, and her high pitched voice will break things.

-Animals would always be attracted to her mostly, including the dangerous ones (which freak Ieyasu at times). But seeing her lulling Wasabi to sleep, or him, makes his anger fade away in instant. Was it because of her quirk? Or because he had fallen in lo- of course not. That’s ridiculous. (Yeah, yeah, Ieyasu, we get it.)

-Another reason to freak out: Try not to upset her, because there was one time when his contrarian personality has stepped on the boundaries, it has given him the best lesson ever.

-“I-Ieyasu- y-you- it’s better if you take those words back.” She trembled, holding back her frustration and fuming anger within her, despite knowing he is being contrary. But not today, just not today-

-“What? Are you going to use your voice so it confuses me so I slap myself?”

-*snap*

-She had cried so loud (Out of frustration, obviously), and it had destroyed all of the ceramic jar of herbs in his room, and all the fragile items within the castle.

-How did the cry end? Ieyasu force a kiss on her. That’s how they become lovers after that. *snort*

Mitsunari

Hero Name: Super Lady

Quirk: Super strength

Weakness: If she didn't control it, she might break someone's bone.

-Mitsunari is the first one to be amazed with her strength, constantly complimenting her, making her blush and accidentally break any stuff near her, or destroying something that she was holding at that time.

-For example, she broke the plates she carried into half and it took whole of Hideyoshi not to get mad at her.

-But there's one time when she saw a mosquito on his cheek, she had sent Mitsunari flying and it took a month for him to recover.

-And.. She ever break the castle's walls because she kicked one of the bullies (that bullied Mitsunari) into a wall out of anger.

-It took all of her not to squeeze on Mitsunari's arms so much when they were kissing (because hell, that angel is very good at it).

Mitsuhide

Hero Name: Psychica

Quirk: Psychic

Weakness: If she is in negative state (mentally and emotionally), the things around her will be destroyed and she might damage her own body.

-He found out when MC tried to stop a bullet that were fired by the enemies during war because their army has weakened.

-Ever since then she has become his partner in long range squad because she can control the movement of arrows and bullets.

-But Mitsuhide had to keep an eye on her because she ever rage from enemy's dirty trick and killed all of them in instant, resulting her to cough out blood from extreme use of her mana.

-And.. Whenever she's angry, it's such a hassle to hide himself because flying object will run after him.

-Not to mention when small knives stab his clothes (making him stick on the wall) when she wanted to confess her feelings to him.

Kenshin

Hero Name: Heiki-sama

Quirk: Weapon summoner and Master in using weapons

Weakness: Just like fire user, when she sneeze from fever, random weapons will come out from her.

-Kenshin didn't give a single glance at her, until she show her interest in aiding him for war.

-She had summoned weapons in front of him, assuming she was a ninja at first, but it wasn't the case.

-He knew about her background when he take a chance to give her a surprise attack, and it drives his lust to battle more (as she keep on summoning random weapons, especially when it's a weapon that he never seen before)

-It amuses him some more when she had a fever, making her sneeze with weapons (extra points to his amusement when the castle is full with random weapons)

-She had pouted after that and as a revenge she locked all of his sake and plums with a chain.

Shingen

Hero Name: Koori no Kimi

Quirk: Ice User (Unlimited power of ice, and she be able to freeze a fire)

Weakness: She is able to freeze a whole town if her mental state is negative; changing summer to winter, and it will be hard to defrost as it is uncontrollable until she calm down

-Shingen gets to know it when she tried to escape from his flirty touchy  attack when he was drunk during one of the victory feasts.

-She had pinned him to wall with her ice and it made him sober impromptu.

-It took him a while to earn her trust because whenever he is near, there will be ice mist coming from her legs a.k.a a warning to not get close.

-Even though she is strong, Shingen still refuse to bring her to battlefield because well, goddess must not stain her hand (Oh joy.)

-Only to get another ice attack from her, by freezing his snacks to his dismay.

Yukimura

Hero Name: Shifter

Quirk: Shape Shifting (Includes both living and non-living things)

Weakness: If she is in a weak state, she might change into things she couldn't control. For example, if she sneeze from a fever, she might accidentally changed into a pencil for no reason.

-Yukimura get to know about her when she changed into a REAL wild boar and head butt him because she was too angry.

-And change into an enchantress when he called her that as well.

-There was one time when the castle nearly need some huge repairs when MC changed into a dragon because she was too angry with her banter with him.

-Endless pranks with him if they were having a fight again.

-He ever gave her a surprise kiss, making her changed into a knife for a week, and will try to stab him (because she were too embarrassed from it), until Sasuke had to get involved to calm her down.

-Reason: Enough with one Stabby Lord, we wouldn't want to add another stabby person.

Sasuke

Hero Name: Kemononoke Hime

Quirk: Summoning Spirits of Animals

Weakness: Her mind must be calm throughout the summoning. If she gets angry or any negative state is in her mind, the spirits couldn't be controlled and will start to eat human's energy.

-It's easy to get to know about her because well, he is from the future and underground heroes is everywhere.

-Her no.1 Fan at that.

-"Your quirk reminds me of summoning Pokemon, like __ I choose you." - Enthusiastic voice didn't match his stoic face.

-Constant compliments of "As expected of MC." and "You are very strong, it is the reason why I'm your no.1 fan." which indirectly made MC blushed with his words and resulted in imbalance emotions within her, and when she said "PLEASE STOP >/////<!"

-The castle is full with animal spirits and he is buried among them.

-But he is happy- honored. Correction.

[spiritmaiden23]

CHARACTER SHEET FOR ZELDA!! 

This is a headcanon sheet that will go deep into the depths of Sky Zel, namely for fantasy verse because I do have another post to dissect Zel’s character as a whole coming up! Fantasy verse I feel needs more info than what I have for her character sheet this way more people can understand her and hopefully play around in that verse because hunny witch zel is an excellent concept I refuse to go to waste. I’d love to rp with more people in this verse because it’s refreshing as well. Anyhow! Bear was kind enough to provide the sheet and now here I am taking advantage of it! Be warned fellas, it’s gonna be a long. Like very long, this took like an hour or two to complete. With all dat juicy details. Feel free to copy and paste this if you want, it’s good for main characters or OCs. But it is long as hell! Let’s jump into it! 

Character’s Name: Zelda Lockewood  Character’s nicknames: Zel, Zellie, Zeldy, witch of the woods, Hylia’s apprentice Gender: Female  Righty or Lefty: Righty  Age: 19-20  Height: 5′3 around 161 cm  Weight: 104 lbs  Eye Color: Light blue, similar to the skies. They twinkle with mischief intent yet benevolence is within her gaze. Hair color: Golden blonde, often tied with ribbons and in a very low ponytail  Distinguishing marks: She has a scar on her chest below the collarbone and at the end of her ribcage where the scar has a slight turn to it towards the left, right above her heart. After a summoning spell gone wrong, she was stabbed there by the creature, thankfully miss OP Hylia was there to save her from dying.  Describe physical traits in one passage: Whew, ok I sound like a broken record but here we go. She often has red cheeks that tend to grow redder when angry or embarrassed or shy or when she has the dokis. Very long ears that also can grow red towards the tips, as such people have mistaken her for an elf which is why she wears the witch’s hat in the first place. She likes to tie her hair in a low ponytail in order to work without it getting in the way but out of her hair is super long to the waist. She has blunt bangs or hime cut as I like to call it! And is petite but don’t let that fool you, she does have monster strength much like main verse.  FAMILY/ RELIGION  Parents: Hylia is her biological mother within this verse, she’s unaware of the fact and believes her mother to be dead. She lives with her adoptive father, Gaepora.  Siblings: An only child  Significant Other: None thus far! But I’m open to shipping here ;v;  Children: Again, none but it’s something she’d want in the future!  Other relatives: Gaepora keeps his family at an arms length, though jolly and wise he tends to be a bit of an introvert at times as such Zelda doesn’t really get to meet with her family too much or get to know them.  Pets: Her familiar, the Loftwing Indigo! Black cats seem to like her as they surround her though! Friends: Tons! But well in case future RPers are interested I can’t really fill it out.  Enemies: Sorceresses are typical enemies to a witch, she tends to avoid other witches too due to their cold-hearted nature.  Relationships (other): It’s tough to put Wylan in a category so this might be best. Though he is an annoyance and she finds him a bit of a troll slowly she’s starting to get to know him bit by bit.  Ethnicity: A witch! With connection to the gods thanks to her mother being the Goddess of Witches who goes by the name Circe to mortal realm and witches, her true name is Hylia though so don’t be confused by this. She comes from a nation called Lanayru, so prehaps Lanayruen if you wanna call her that! Religion: Most witches tend to follow something akin to Wiccan belief, Zelda follows that! Superstitions: When making a potion, she often likes to pray to the Goddess of Witches and sing a small tune while making sad potions as a means to break the silence. She doesn’t look at mirrors in the dark or but two mirrors opposite of each other as it’s believe it could make a portal of sorts for demons and other evil beings, as such she often covers her mirrors and doesn’t look at them too much aside from when she has to get ready. It’s silly, she knows, but it’s trauma from opening the portal when summoning a being far beyond her skill.  Diction, Accent, ETC.: So, she has a light accent that’s typical for those coming from Lanayru. Certain words, you can hear it spilling out. It’s best to describe it as a sing-songy accent where certain vowel sounds are stretched out. She’s learned to shorten the vowels though, trying to fit in with the nation she lives in now! Which is Hyrule a land far more bigger than her humble homelands with advancements in magic and certain technology. They have a more... I wanna say North american accent that can range from Canadian to the typical eastern accent for USA to southern accent from again, USA.  SCHOOL/ WORK / HOME  Education (Highest): Hmm, college equivalent of fantasy world? She was a fast learner and skipped a few grades which is why she graduated so early (it helps being the daughter of the Goddess of Witches too, demi god to be exact haha) she and had a natural affinity for magic, also she was studious as well and often aced tests.  Degrees: Oh damn... well she doesn’t have the title Hylia’s Golden Apprentice for nothing. So let’s consider that a degree, or maybe a degree in magic pft! Vocation/Occupation: A potions seller! Employment History: Let’s explain how she has experience in this! She worked with a brewing master, who owned a shop that was full of wares and while some cursed and forbidden, as well as the owner being sketchy, she learned about how the potions business works while working for him from 14 to 18. Four short years! Nice! Upon moving to Hyrule, she kept her potions making a bit lowkey. Selling her wares in the small town near the lost woods known as Tarrey Town. Under the guise as a merchant, it was soon discovered that she was a witch and while certain residents tend to avoid her due to low reputation of witches as a whole, many are attracted by her refreshingly friendly nature and excellent quality in potions. Rumors begin to spread out and she does tend to travel to the big city, Castle Town, from time to time to sell her wares. Though she’s still learning the ropes, and though her business isn’t really that big, she’s doing not too bad. Salary: Potions aren’t cheap, she’s her own boss as well. So, let’s put it that way. HWEOH  Status and money: Despite how well her business is doing, she’s not exactly rich but she’s not too worried about her money situation either. Resourceful, she tends to save her money by collecting her own ingredients in the Lost Woods, though if she has to she will go out to get the ones she couldn’t find within the forest and while some are expensive, she tends to barging with cheapening the price somewhat.  Own or Rent: OWN! She made her little hut deep within the woods through magic of course, it’s hard to find unless you know how to navigate within the ever changing nature of the Lost Woods. It’s a bit like OOT in that regard, ALTTP with the mysterious fog you can get lost in, and well... I’m also taking small inspiration from Paper Mario 64 with the spooky forest in one level since the Lost Woods here is a bit... well, spooky!  Living Space: It’s a small, humble sized cottage crafted with grey bricks for the chimney and front entrance sticking out with some tudor elements to the building where the house is half-timbered walls! The outside has a white little gate with a plant arch full of roses, and there is a garden full of flowers and herbs, with ivy crawling up the building towards the back of the house along with a weeping willow within her large yard, a lake is nearby and there is a lovely waterfall but beware of the creatures lurking within! The window in the kitchen is the biggest window in the house, almost like a bay window of sorts but you can’t exactly open that window yet there is a another on the lower floor where you can, while her bedroom has a slightly smaller window where they are opened outwards and always opened in the daytime, there is a large window seat, large enough to sleep on it with comforting pink cushion as well as little pillows she’s knitted herself. There are drawers underneath where she stores extra stuff. Now, as for the inside, aside from the kitchen and her bedroom along with the bathroom, it’s a big mess! The small space is cluttered with tons of books and tomes, some on the millions of shelves (along with tons and tons of potion battles) she has and some on the floor with pages scattered throughout the wood flowering. She has plants like wisteria hanging on the walls and several others like witch’s herb among other examples hanging from the celling. There’s a small sitting area with a wooden desk and stool and that’s where she often works with her research. It’s pretty much well lived in and is the result of working too much to notice the mess. It’s two stories, with a small attic being the second floor. Her bedroom is located on the first floor and despite the window seat, she has a nice slightly small queen sized sleigh bed in the center and up against the wall, it looks super comfy, like you can sink into it and well it’s possible! Along with a vanity mirror with brushes for light makeup she wears for special events, and a small bottle filled with flowers, her knitting area with a small basket full of yarn balls and a wooden wardrobe to keep her clothing in. There is a cute rug on the floor to bring the room together. Along with book shelves. It’s a cute yet ery simple style.  Work Space: As described above, it’s a wooden desk within the main hub area of the house. It’s in the corner of the room, near a window as a means to get sunlight and fresh air! Her cauldron is not too far from the desk and once again, she has tons of flowers. There’s always her research papers and books on it, a quill with a feather, annnnd a small candle stand in case she’s working late in the night! Main Mode of Transportation: Either her “broom” which is an enchanted feather from her Loftwing or her Loftwing himself! She thinks it’s silly to ride on a broom and wanted to be more creative! PSYCHOLOGY  Fears: Well when you face near death and actually saw the reaper’s scythe coming at you hot, you tend to not fear much. She doesn’t really like to summon things though due to that accident, so there’s nervousness whenever she absolutely has to. Mirrors there’s a slight fear due to how they can act as portals into the other realm. And losing loved ones, failing to protect them. Perhaps knowing the truth about her birth is also a fear, as she will deny being a demi god let along to the Goddess of Witches. There’s this feeling she has where she knows she’s not an ordinary witch but out of fear she does not investigate too much with a slight hint of curiosity.  Secrets: Much like main verse she can hear the gods and spirits of the realm, something she denies and keeps to herself. While she can do wandless magic, a feat only known to Hylia, it’s a bit hard and her spells tend to go wild so it’s why she likes to stick to tomes as it better handles her powers. Whenever mana blockage happens, she tends to get embarrassed and will only reveal it if she has to.  IQ: VERY HIGH as expected of someone with a lot of wisdom despite her age. That is all for this one... Eating Habits: NOT VERY GOOD!!! She just throws together anything that’s edible enough and eats it, while it doesn’t taste good she’s always in a rush to get back to work because she’s a bit of a workaholic in this verse! Sometimes, she’ll take elixirs to suppress her hunger if she’s working very hard on something like research or recipe hunting, at times she doesn’t always get the potion right so she tends to try again and again until she does. Neglecting her need to eat. Pretty much, it’s like putting fried rice, egg, and leftovers in a blender and eating that disgusting mess. And though she can cook mainly simple enough dishes, she tends to not do it too much. Someone get this girl some food.  Sleeping Habits: AGAIN NOT VERY GOOD THIS POOR BABY!! When cramming in the night, she gets so focused she tends to stay up until four o’ clock by drinking lots and lots of coffee... and that’s when the sleepiness tends to hit her once that caffeine is all gone, you’ll most likely see her asleep at her desk. Being an early bird though means she won’t get much sleep so ;v; That said when not cramming, she tends to get sleepy once the sun’s down so she does get normal hours of sleep mostly. She loves the morning and always wakes up to the sun greeting her as she tends to leave the curtains open, not at all afraid to do that since like... no one goes deep into Lost Woods aside from Wylan pft.  Book Preferences: She loves reading research and recipe books! It’s always fun for her to learn new things and as such she always has her head buried in a book that discusses tons and tons of research. When not learning and sitting back to relax, she likes tales of adventures and will sometimes read romance novels as well.  Music Preferences: Harp and lyre along with other string instruments! She tends to love folklore as there is a history behind it and she does find that super interesting. Though she can somewhat play the harp/lyre she’s not as talented as say the bard Kina! Groups or Alone: While good enough in a group as she does like teamwork, she’d rather do things on her own. Blame being responsible to a fault for that one alongside slight hero complex for more dangerous things she has to face HJKA! Leader or Follower: Are you kidding? Leader all the freaking way! She has a natural charm about her and is ambitious in a sense, she would make a good leader because she’s wise enough to make good decisions when in a pinch. That said she can be a little bossy when worry wart tendencies pops up and will def assume that you need her help. She’s just trying to be a good friend who believes in you and your potential, don’t mind her. Just... her supportive attitude is pretty strong haha!  Planned Out or Spontaneous: With her carefree nature, you’d think she’d be spontaneous and while she can be at times because adventure is fun, she tends to plan a lot of things out... of course, her plans never work out. But again, she’s resourceful enough to work around the issue she may come across.  Journal Entires (Do they keep one?) YES OF COURSE MY GIRL LOVES TO WRITE!! She actually has a few, four in total. One for researching plants and other things, another to keep track of her inventory, one for folklore and ghosts/monsters findings perhaps, and one for her personal feelings. If you find the last one, she will end your life.  Hobbies, Recreation: Girl loves to knit! It’s very relaxing and she’s really good at it along with sewing her own clothing! She loves flying, and collecting plants in case that wasn’t obvious already. She also loves monster hunting despite how dangerous it can be, but due to how unique the monsters are in Hyrule she just can’t help it! Catch her taking pictures whenever she comes across one while a friend grabs her and runs for dear life. Jam making is a fun things she enjoys and gardening. Overall, really good hobbies she has! How Do They Relax: A nice bath filled with floral oils that’s meant to relax you and certain flowers as well. It’s how she’s got that flowery scent after all. She tends to read in the bath, and well reading in general along with writing is how she unwinds! She loves knitting and gardening and jam making is relaxing from time to time. Drinking tea while sitting underneath the weeping willow. She does love practicing her magic and hexes too!    What Excites Them?: MONSTERS DESPITE HOW DANGEROUS THEY ARE AND SNAPPING PHOTOS TO RECORD THEM, finding new spells, new tomes and other books! Seeing friends will make her super happy, flowers, wild plant life never seen before. Whenever other people from distant cities learn about her potions shop, new cauldrons, successfully making a new potion, exploring new cities and towns, traveling, flying, learning new things because she’s a nerd with a thirst for knowledge... pretty much she’s very excited over tons of things, it doesn’t take much to excite her, actually haha! Pet Peeves: Wylan breaking into her house, she has tons of charms in the place so it’s a bit worrying and annoying to find him in there doing whatever, messing up with a spell or burning potions, hunger pains when she’s deep at work along with her natural sleepiness once it’s dark out, prideful hero types mayhaps where they’re all talk and no action more like (she does value bravery though), bullying since strong sense of justice, and finally gossip and judgement.  Prejudices: She... doesn’t really have one? Aside from not liking bullies and again prideful hero types who are all talk and no action... liars too? And creeps who flirt with her. Flirting is fun but not when it’s unwanted. Yeah... that’s about it I think! Attitudes: Very determined and ready to face the day and is a hard worker! She’s a cheery girl through and through and very kind but don’t let her kindness fool you as she’s not afraid to put her foot down and call you out. She’s charming and a playful girl who has a love for learning. And is very supportive but can be a busybody if she worries for you. And though somewhat scared about the truth of her origins, once the time comes she’s ready to face those fears. She tends to get either angry or embarrassed (it’s ambiguous really) whenever Wylan is around doing... Wylan things actually haha! Stressors: I guess failure or deadlines that she can’t make if the recipe for the potion is too hard. As well as vague customers too because what sorta potion do you want from her she can’t read minds? Tarot cards and palm reading, while she knows how to do these things as it’s natural for all witches, knowing the future is scary and she’d rather live in the now while looking forward to the what the future has in store without knowing of her fate. Also, dark magic. She tends to stay away from it, corruption is a thing that can happen causing her to become a mindless yet very OP being known as sorceress.  Obsessions: WORK. Very much a hard worker to a fault actually due to her high sense of responsibilities playing into that. It’d be cash money if someone could help with relaxing her.  Addictions: Book collecting, along with flower collecting too and finally she has a super bad sweet tooth. That’s about it.  Ambitions: Right now, she wants to become a bigger name in order to help out people as she loves helping others, and well, the extra money doesn’t hurt either. She wishes to become a bit more powerful as she already is, up to the Grand Witch Hylia levels and wishes to increase her mana, not that it’s low but just in case! As Seen by Others: A cutie pie! Who’s kind though sometimes people do avoid her since Witch.  As Seen by Self: She’s cute and she knows it haha! Aside from that she doesn’t see herself as kind but someone who wants to do the right thing, there’s no reason behind this aside from it’s natural for her to be this way. That said she wants to work harder than she already is someone stop her. ASTROLOGY/PHISIOLOGY (hoo boi i know shit about that but let’s go) Birth Date: March 20 Time of Birth: 3:07 AM, right during witching hours with the magic number seven in it, that’s why Hylia went “oh crap she’s gonna be powerful like me and make poor life decisions if she sticks with me time to yeet this baby outta here” Western Astrological Sign: Pisces  Traits Associated with Western Sign: I’m lifting this from a sight but strengths are Compassion, artistic, intuitive, gentle, wise, musical. While weakness is fearful (not really she’s pretty brave but does have some fears) overly trusting, sad, desire to escape reality, can be a victim or a martyr. Some traits don’t really fit her, I guess you can say she’s the odd man out with typical pisces haha!  Chinese Zodiac Sign: That’s a little difficult since it goes by year rather than date but I’ll try! Year of the Monkey! It fits her best I feel! Traits Associated with Chinese Zodiac: according to this site monkeys are fast learners and crafty, they tend to have many interests, they are clever and creative and love to accept challenges. They tend to have magnetic personalities are witty and intelligent but can be naughty aka playful. I feel this fits her better than Pisces... or maybe a mixture of both haha! Handwriting: DOCTOR’S WRITING!! SHE... HAS SLOPPY CURSIVE THAT ONLY SHE CAN READ HWEOH but she can write neat cursive it’s just she’s always in a rush to get her thoughts out there.  Sexual History: Girl was too focused in her studies she did not date anyone. She’s not one for ahem “hooking up either” So... no history there I guess pft.   General Health: Healthy as can be! Medical History: Aside from that one time where she almost died, her medical history is really not that interesting. She does get mana blockage from time to time and they hurt hard and makes it harder to use magic. Her spells going haywire.  Allergies: Hmm... I don’t think she has any. Chronic Illnesses: Nope again! Handicaps: And again no on that either.  OBJECTS Purse / Bag: She has a leather bag around her waist, it’s charmed to be a hammer space of sorts so like... tons of things. Books, tomes, scrolls, diary for ingredients gathering, another journal for folklore and monster tracking, pictograph/camera athame knife just in case because you never know, wallet and plenty of others stuff Wallet: Well, it’s a pouch that’s full of money, a lot just in case. That is also a hammer space of sorts! Fridge: NOT A DAMN THING she’s better at storing bird food for her loftwing and cat food for any stray cats hanging around her area but her fridge is like... leftovers from the little meals she makes from time to time, jam, potions that need to be stored in cold place, veggies, and one battle of water that’s it.  Medicine Cabinet: While she knows some healing spells it doesn’t hurt to have bandages just in case! Along with medical brews that’ll help with things such as colds and other illnesses. Tooth brush and paste of course... and uh the little makeup she has because this girl a goddess and doesn’t wear it too much.  Glove Compartment: CARS DON’T EXIST BUT ACCORDING TO BOTW MOTORCYCLES DO, that said she doesn’t have a motorcycle so like... nothing! Junk Drawer: Utensils, knives for food... for one draw. As for the other real junk drawer full of papers, dried and pressed flowers, journals, and extra quills alongside some cute jewelry! Kitchen Cabinets: Plates, bowls, and glasses of course with spices in another and any food to help with cooking!  Bedroom Hiding Place: Underneath her bed is where the personal journal is... for the most part. Closets: Clothing, it’s a small closet along side other junk like her old wand, and anything relating to her school memories such as supplies.  Backback: Isn’t that the same thing as purse/bag? Either way, read above! Locker: None Desk: WEEPS DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF ON THIS? Read above with living situation.  Clothes pocket: Mostly letters for her father... a pocket watch, and sometimes she’ll have the athame knife in there too. There’s not much she can store with her dress apron! 

OTHER (bitch we almost done!!)  Halloween Costumes: SHEET GHOST!! She won’t go as a witch since well she is one, sheet ghost is probably meant for laughs really. Also she’d make her own black cat costume due to her affinity with them. A black dress, with cat ears and whiskers drawn on... yeah that seems good! Tricks: Little things like charming you to float! Or having giant rabbits chase after you before they cuddle you! Spiders crawling out from your ears! Bats following you. See? Nothing harmful but something funny to witches yet not so much to mortals or other supernatural beings for that matter.  Talents: Magic, she’s insanely talented but it helps having a Goddess mother who created magic and witches/mages in the first place! She’s good at knitting as we established and sewing, very good at brewing all sorts of potions as they’re always high quality, very good at researching stuff. ETC ETC.  Politics: Hmm well,,, Hyrule is absolute monarchy where the king and royal family lie about being descendants of gods so... yeah! Not much to say there since she’s not one who’s tied to mortal virtues.  Flaws: Worrywart which turns to her assuming things and taking the wheel so to speak she’s trying her best to support friends but well being nosy and like this isn’t always the best, sometimes while good with words and advice to comfort someone she doesn’t always say the right thing to comfort said person, she works too hard and is responsible to a fault, she often likes to give others the benefit of the doubt despite being screwed over. And perhaps... she doesn’t worry about herself so much as she worries about others. Not only does she think she can handle most things but also it’s a bit of a hero complex or something similar to that where she always sacrifices herself for others. Because, it’s the right thing to do. She tends to get embarrassed easily and has a bit of a nasty temper at times but it doesn’t take long for her to get overall as she’s not one to hold grudges.  Strengths: Very joyful and charming, many find themselves drawn to her as the result of this. Kind as well to everyone, aside from mentioned above in prejudice section and dislikes, she likes to treat everyone equally as best as she can. Reasonability is her middle name and tends to always get things done. She’s also very wise for her age and someone who encourages you to do your very best because she believes in you and sees this great light in you that gives you great potential for the bright future. She can be a little flirty towards someone she likes once she gets over her initial shyness upon discovering her feelings but well romance is new to her so sometimes she’ll miss certain romantic intentions. And playful girl who’s a bit witty too. She has talents for magic and is a fast learner for the most part. Also love learning too and is a nerd. She has a creative side to her! Drugs/Alcohol: Nope! Passwords: Probably her birthday for like things that require numbers such as safes and the like! Email Address, Home Page, Blogs, etc.: Well none pft Time and place: Very vague middle ages that takes inspiration from the Magic Technology BOTW has along with other games too such as TP and SS.  Special Places: The sky... does that count? And the Haunted Grove deep within the Lost Woods.  Special Memories: Meeting her familiar for the first time, any time spent with her dad as he was loving and kind, getting accepted to become a student for Hylia despite her wanting to keep a distance but takes her under her wing just in case. 

[ladyofmaidensandwine]

Blood and Blade

Part Two of the All’s Not Fair in Love and War Series

For the Pick Two Challenge by @justagirlinafandomworld​

This is part two of an ongoing series I am writing. If you would like to be tagged, let me know.

Prompts:  Enemies to Lovers AU, and the dialogue “If you touch him/her/them, I’ll kill you.”

Characters: Dean Winchester, Fem! Irish! Reader, John Winchester, Crowley, Lucifer (mentioned), Charlie Bradbury, Sam Winchester

Wordcount: 2,602

Summary: Confronted by an unexpected face from your past, Dean demands the truth. An unlikely alliance is formed in the face of certain death, and unexpected secrets will be revealed.

Series Masterlist

            “Tell me everything, Y/N. Tell me the truth. Who are you really?” Dean demanded. You studied his emerald green eyes, measured their intensity, and gave a slow nod. “Fergus McLeod killed my parents when I was but a babe, and then slammed me into Hell as a punishment for inciting rebellion.” Dean frowned as you skirted past his question, but didn’t let his hard expression falter. “Why are you here?” Dean asked. “Not because of the King, not because of the labor camp, nor due to the contract. Why are you really here?” He added. You paled slightly. You had thought your carefully crafted exterior hid your ulterior motives, but somehow, this sharp-eyed, stubborn, and charming Prince had seen right through you. He knew. He knew the truth, he wanted to hear you say it. You set your shoulders back and raised your chin a notch, face a mask of unfeeling coldness, eyes as hard as diamonds. “I’m here to-”

                  You stopped, brows furrowed, a hand instinctively moving to your hip, grazing the thick grey cloth of your skirts. Dean’s head snapped to the door, neither of you daring to so much as breathe. You made eye contact, and a look of understanding passed between the two of you. Silence fell thickly outside the door to Dean’s private chambers, the shadow of someone’s boots pooling in the polished marble floors.

          The door slammed open, the force sending the finely crafted wood flying in splinters, and you had no time to think, only to act. Weapon, you needed a weapon- your hands lunged blindly and you felt the solid and heavy weight of an ornate candelabra in your hand. Two men, both stocky, rushed into the room where Dean had already drawn his sword, but one look at the abysmally dark pits that were their eyes, you knew a single blade would not help you. The closest to you moved fast, but you were faster. Even after the time you’d been imprisoned, your honed reflexes were still as reliable as they’d always been, and you moved in a blur of gleaming metal and dove grey lace. You swept his feet from under him, and before he had the chance to react, used his momentum to send him soaring over your shoulder, slamming him into the ground, and bashing the candlestick into his skull. 

            Dean turned to you, eyes wide in shock and surprise. You panted slightly, and he unsheathed a pair of daggers from his belt. He was silent, face impassive as he offered them to you, but you understood his bargain. The olive branch had been extended in the form of deadly blades and an agreement to have one another’s backs. “Demons. We must act quickly. There are hidden tunnels beneath us, are there not?” You asked hurriedly, though your tone was calm, voice unwavering. “Yes. I won’t ask how you know that.” He frowned. “Gather as many people as you can, and get them out.” You said firmly. “And leave you? To do what, exactly?” Dean scoffed. “Now is not the time to quarrel. I can hold my own, Your Majesty.” You said, curtsying mockingly as Dean rolled his eyes. “As you wish.” He sneered. You twirled the daggers deftly between your fingers, and as you looked at Dean, he saw a sort of bloodthirsty fire there, and simply nodded his head. You let a smirk spread over your lips, and allowed the predator within to show. A wolf stalked the palace, a wolf in a woman’s body, fangs of iron, heart of stone.

             Somewhere in the chaos, Dean connected with his younger brother, the two Princes fending off demons as they hurried people into the hidden entrance of the tunnels. Charlie, Captain of the Royal Guard, had ordered her forces to only attack you as self-defense, understanding that a shaky alliance had been forged against a mutual enemy. You, however, were nowhere to be seen, no sign of your existence save for the trail of bodies left in your wake.

            Silent. You were so silent, it was eerie, appearing from the shadows with a determined swiftness, so efficient that by the time anyone knew you were there, there was a knife buried to the hilt in their chest. You moved methodically, choosing corridors and halls with plenty of places to hide and a good vantage point, sometimes stalking your quarry with the unnerving, preternatural stillness and patience of a predator, hunting them down, and offering no mercy except that of a quick death. Morrigan, Queen of Thieves, Lady of Death, all names well-earned. You made killing an art, but not out of enjoyment. There was more there, a glimpse of sympathy hiding behind an eternally angry fire and cold eyes, more than vengeance in that dangerous smirk. So carefully hidden, this vulnerable human side of you, the part that could vomit at the sight of the carnage you caused, the part that wept and sobbed upon waking from a nightmare in which you were haunted by the faces of those you’ve loved and lost, and those you’d looked in the eye as they died at your hands. Steady, those hands, so firm and certain as they held a silvery blade. The demons within you were not the kind that could be exorcised.

                    You disappeared into the gloom of the tunnels, nothing but the weak and quickly dying light of the occasional torch to guide you, but you knew where you were going. You had never needed sight to find your way, as sure of your directions as anyone with a map could ever be. You were nearly stabbed as a member of the guard struck out at you, unable to discern your figure from a possible threat, leaning away and deflecting the blow with the dagger Dean lent you.

           “If you would refrain from decapitating me, I would be most gracious.” You said dryly, thoroughly unimpressed by the guards. “At ease.” Dean called, shouldering his way past the soldiers towards you. He was silent for a moment, surveying you with a critical gaze, searching for obvious injuries, of which you sported few. “How many?” He questioned. You shrugged. “Too many to count. The rest of your men can handle it now. The surprise of the attack caught them off-guard, but the numbers can be managed.” You reported, scanning the crowd of faces behind Dean. He nodded with a sigh, jaw set. Crown Prince he may be, but he was a warrior too, one that would rather die alongside his fellow soldiers than run with the civilians. You understood how he felt. Once, you had made a similar decision. The bandolier of knives slung over chest gleamed faintly in the firelight, one hand resting almost casually on the hilt of his sword. “We should keep moving. The palace is not safe, and your father was already escorted away.” You suggested, slipping behind Dean and to the front of the group. “I understand you do not trust me, but as of now, I am your ally. I hate Crowley and all he stands for, as well as those with him, far more than I hate the good King of Lawrence.” You said clearly. Dean’s lips curled into a small smirk, nodding. “You must truly hate Crowley, then.” Charlie spoke up. You snorted a laugh. “You haven’t the slightest.”

                      Dean watched you carefully. He was slightly behind you, placing himself between you and the others as an instinct. His emerald eyes were calculating, studying you. Blood smeared on your cheek, just slightly darker than the red of your lipstick. You’d cut through your skirts, leaving them above the knee for mobility, and your hair was mussed, small scratches and cuts scattered over your arms and legs. You looked a mess, and yet your eyes were clear, sharper and with more focus than he’d seen them before, body relaxed, but ready for action in an instant. You were in your element, adrenaline coursing through your veins, fingers still spinning those perfectly balanced daggers skillfully, the color of blood that was, he realized, not yours enhancing your eyes. His fathers words rang through his head. “Murder, son. Many, many counts of murder...”

               Dawn had arrived, the deeper indigos and rich blue-black of the night sky slowly replaced by subtle grey and soft rosy pink. A few lone stars hung glittering above the horizon, the full moon illuminating the rolling hills enough for them to see the bulky and stocky shape of the stronghold they were headed towards. Neither you, nor Dean, had let go of your weapons, waiting for the next attack as the civilians wearily trudged onwards. “How much farther?” You asked quietly. “Perhaps half a kilometre.” Dean answered, noting your frown. “What is it?” He queried. “Is it not strange that they would willingly allow both Princes to so easily escape? Something about this does not bode well.” You said seriously, exchanging an uneasy look with Dean. “I know. The best I can hope for is that the guards can get the people to safety.” Dean sighed, expression taut. So much responsibility, such a heavy weight. The gold of his crown reflected in the moonlight, and you wondered if he felt the burden of his entire kingdom resting upon his brow each time he wore it. “Then let us make haste, Your Majesty.” You gestured, flashing him a crooked grin. “I hate when you call me that.” Dean muttered blankly, but you caught the twitch of his lips as he fought a smile. “Crown Prince Dean, loathing his title. Next I’ll discover you don’t bathe in gold coins and rubies as large as a bird’s egg.” You snickered. That one got you a laugh, your eyes smug and smile triumphant.

              Close enough to see the flag flying atop the turrets of the stronghold, the urgency kicked in as the civilians were rushed towards the prospect of safety. You counted the steps left to take in your head. 1,000 steps away, an arrow pierced through the gap in a soldier’s metal armor. The people screamed, and Prince Sam quickly tried to regain control whilst you and Dean readied yourselves for battle. Charlie called out orders to hold the defensive line and to keep moving, but more arrows fell from the sky like rain, most bouncing off shields, but some wounding or killing both soldier and civilian. Dean’s expression shifted in an instant, and gone was the cocky grin, the cool amusement, replaced by cold steel and green eyes lit from within by an angry, righteous flame.

               The pair of you were efficient, Dean’s sword and your knives doing serious damage as the archers abandoned their bows and charged your group. He shielded you when he could, and you made quick work of would-be assailants attempting to take the Crown Prince by surprise. Something in the dynamic between you shifted, there on the battlefield, both spattered with blood and streaked with dirt, that former uneasy and hesitant trust replaced as you became strong defenders and fearsome allies. The Prince and the Assassin, Defenders of the Crown. You could laugh at the thought, and for a moment, the long-dormant place inside you that had once been alive in vivid colours created a mental image, two figures side-by-side, one in gleaming golden tones, the other a silhouette in silver, a brief flicker of something you’d paint if it had been long ago.

            Cresting the hilltop against the bronze of the rising sun, the King’s vast army rode on sure-footed steeds, armor a bright and shining wave of silver and gold to change the tide of the battle. Dean met your eyes, sharing in the sense of impending victory, before he cleaved a demon in half with one stroke of his sword, your own daggers finding their way into the throat and gut of two more. Sam had been flanked by the King’s soldiers, the common people and nobility rescued and ushered towards the stronghold. You and Dean remained, a lethal pair, carving a path through the attackers with both blood and blade, never ceasing even as you took a heavy mace to the shoulder, and Dean was stabbed in the thigh. There would be no retreat, from either side, but a few more cowardly individuals recognized the impending loss and fled, the numbers dwindling into something more manageable. By the time the sky burned red and blazing orange, clouds tinged pink and gold, the fields were littered with corpses both human and Other, the survivors being taken forcibly into custody. Again, the Crown Prince met your eyes, and nodded a solemn thanks, to which you gave a crooked smile and mocking bow. It would seem the unlikely alliance would survive another day.

               Dean refused to leave to be treated until you were also seen to, a handmaiden sighing exasperatedly and finally escorting you towards a private room which connected to Dean’s own chambers. The bustle of people distracted you from the pain of your various injuries, eyes taking in all the exits and cataloguing every twist and turn, memorizing faces. Another skill you could never forget, ingrained deeply in your instincts.

          “I can take care of these myself.” You insisted to a nurse as she tried to inspect a cut over your shoulder. “Let her assist you, Y/N.” Dean said sternly. meeting your eyes with furrowed brows. You sighed and rolled your eyes, but ceased you protests. Dean was made to leave and you were scrubbed and then dressed in night attire which smelled suspiciously of Dean’s earthy cologne, but was in any case a better alternative to another ridiculous dress. 

             “Your cover is blown, you realize.” Dean said. He stepped into your room, looking less like the future King, and more like a man. An exceedingly handsome man, you admitted. “I suppose now your father will kill me.” You replied, lifting your chin slightly. “He will wish to, but he can’t. You’re under my jurisdiction, Y/N.” Dean smirked, leaning against the door frame with his hands tucked into his pockets as you stilled on the bed. “Am I to take this as you saying you don’t wish to kill me, Your Majesty?” You blinked slowly, expression betraying your confusion. “I- I may have judged you too harshly. In any case, you fought by my side, risked your life, cover, and safety to protect my people. You deserve to be hailed as a hero, not a criminal.” Dean said seriously, inspecting you closely to gauge your reactions. He frowned when you let out a loud laugh. “You’re not jesting? This is serious?” You asked incredulously. “Your Majesty, I will always be a killer, no matter what you now wish to call me. You will be making many people very angry if you stand for me against your father.” You pointed out. Dean smirked again, shrugging. “Old bastard has it coming. I am not the same man as my father, Y/N, and you are not your reputation. I don’t need to know the details of your past, nor your identity. You could have killed me at least a dozen different times this night, and many others. I trust you.” Dean stared you down, not allowing you to escape the sincere intensity of his deep pine eyes. “You’re mad.” You stated. “Perhaps.” He grinned back. “Well, then. To the death of all reason, Your Majesty.” You toasted, raising a crystal glass of wine in his direction. “I’ll drink to that. It’s Dean. Just Dean.” He said firmly. “As you wish, Crown Prince Just Dean.” This time, you both laughed.

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[graveyard-in-the-void]

(Writing frenzy continues, this time even with some “art” I swear to god, I’m ruining the lore of pumpkin scissors completely with my AU. In my defense though, listening to this and this didn’t really help me with my active imagination! ... I seriously need to get a grip on action though. I want to write it so bad.) --- Lucifer ---

“Okay, newbie.” Malcolm remembered Foxy’s words from back then. “There are a few rules, even in OUR section. I know it’s surprising, but I’m sure you’ll get the hang of most of them easily, just by watching us! We’re pros after all. However-“ This part was especially vivid, as a shadow crossed the fox’s face. “The main rule, the rule you need to know before anything else… never, ever make Henry angry.” It had been so confusing. “Uh. Foxy… I appreciate your concern, but the Lieutenant seems… always angry?” “Oh-“ He waved his hand. “Upset? Frustrated? Annoyed? Offended? All of these are fine. That’s just how he operates. But no- what I’m talking about here is anger. Rage. Fury.” “He’s already scary enough… I won’t try to make it worse.” Somehow, this drew a chuckle out of Foxy, as he looked over him, up his whole size. “Yeah… some people are scary enough by themselves, aren’t they?” And from there on out… he did see what Foxy was talking about. There were special moments. When they entered territory that they were shot at just for stepping in. When they entered pricey houses, facing the occupants who lived in luxury, sucking out all the life from the cities around them. When they faced a hateful mob, carrying their old, rusty weapons, raising it against their uniform, much more than their words and actions. Every single ones of these times… … when Henry drew his sword… … there was something in his eyes… … a light. Shining maniacally. That stuff was scary. But… there also always had been something about it that made Malcolm feel calm. He knew this kind of light. His lantern seemed to exude something similar- but what Henry had was much, much different. It felt so controlled and aimed. It felt… right. Just, even. In a terrifying way. Henry was ALWAYS armed too. To act on this shine, whoever it may shine on. Fully ready to engage in combat with anyone or anything, from his slacking subordinates to full on abstract concepts. It was good he was always armed. Because they could have never seen this ambush coming. They should have. But they didn’t. Inside of the metal facility, a place nobody should have- could have- predicted them to be… Now the alarms were going off, red light blinking. The siren screaming at the top of its capabilities. Stinging right through the soul- And it was good that Malcolm wasn’t the only one keeping his weapons too close. Too close for comfort. His own, that was. The light of the lantern was shining. It felt so oddly bright in these halls that turned from pitch black to deep red in just a second, coloring his whole vision in with the wrong colors, the wrong noises- He wasn’t thinking. He was listening to the orders that his brain produced at a volume that somehow allowed him to listen to everything and nothing around him. Moving forward. Töten Sie. The only law of his field. This parasite inside of him, the enemy raising the weapon- It was too quick, and too long. A whip? A metal whip, made out of multiple parts that expanded more and more? It was a painful, hard to predict weapon. People could quickly falter under it, especially when wielding a sword- but also those with guns weren’t save from having the weapon ripped form their grasp- leaving them defenseless. Most people, that was. Malcolm just rose his wrist, letting the weapon sling around it, ripping away fabric and skin- Then he pulled. It broke. Expected. What wasn’t expected though- A liquid. It splashed out of the tip of the weapon, covering Malcolm- And starting to abruptly tear away his flesh, in a horrible sizzling noise. Before he could adjust for it, the weapon jumped forward again. In the back he could hear Henry scream out for him- Then he was on his knees, coughing up blood and weird chunky clumps of flesh. Did get anything inside his mouth? He couldn’t realize the feeling- Staring up, at the assailant, all his mind was busy with was to come up with a way to get up again, to avoid the whip and crush this persons being, under his bare hands if it had to happen- He was only lightly armored, if he managed to reach him, somehow- The cold mask that seemed to be the one of a demon simply stared down at him, the expression empty as his own. Slowly he began to raise his hands, willing to pull himself forward- But before he could, something yellow and pink flashed before him, the movement of a short sword was audible- He wanted to scream, suddenly he was on the ground, in pain, suddenly it all came flooding to him, the reality of the situation and that Henry too would be hit by this liquid- whatever it was, whatever it was, if it hit- Abruptly a silver snake landed with a cold, high noise on the ground. The attacker moved backwards. His voice muffled by the mask, almost unrecognizable. “We expected nothing less of the famous Lieutenant Miller. However. You should give up now.” Henry’s eyes bore into his enemy, as he held his sword up defensively, ready for the next weapon and the next attack- “No. I have no intend to make anything easy for the likes of you.” Behind him Malcolm groaned, trying to force himself upwards, his mind a completely jumbled mess, screaming of blood and protection, of love and violence, he couldn’t decipher it- The demon simply scoffed. “… still alive? Well. No witnesses.” He snapped his finger- A gunshot. Then another. Then another. Frozen, Henry turned around, his eyes wide and empty as Malcolm collapsed once more, this time seemingly for good. His body was still twitching, probably grasping to get up- Ignoring the very real threat of getting shot himself, or the masked person stabbing him into the back, he jumped forwards, in such a rush to crouch next to him- over him, trying to keep the life in his eyes- Malcolm’s stare was purple and wide- The eyes of an animal. He grabbed Henry abruptly by the wrist, so strongly that it hurt, but Henry didn’t care about that. Those eyes were not like Malcolm’s at all. Quickly his eyes wandered down to the cursed lantern. It wouldn’t even let him die as himself, huh? Reaching out, he clicked the mechanism shut. Instantly the man below him grew weak, limp, looking up at him with those wide, pained eyes that he knew. “H… Henry…” “Shhhhh-“ Gently he took his cheek into his hand. “It will be okay. You will be okay.” Those words. Said every time. By now he believed in them, that they had some power. After all, until now it always worked, right? The gunmen had stepped out of their hiding places, surrounding them. “Lieutenant Miller. I once more ask you to come along with us… or we will see ourselves forced to use the poisoned darts to cause you to fall unconscious… after a long period of writhing in pain, of course. The body must be fully exhausted for it to take full effect.” Henry however wasn’t even listening. All he did was holding his corporal, trying to- force Mal to stay alive by simply keeping his eyes on him- There were many things Malcolm could tell him now. It hurts. I’m scared. Get away from here. I’m sorry. You did nothing wrong. But both of them were caught watching each other, staring into one another’s eyes, trying to find answers to this situation- Henry hand wandered slowly down to Malcolm’s belt as he shifted, just for his other hand to be abruptly squeezed. “D-don’t touch- the- it will-“ “… it is merely a tiny will-o-wisp.” The alarm didn’t stop screaming, no matter what, keeping Henry at the edge of his sanity. God, he hated that noise. The grip of his corporal was staying tight- “I am warning you one more time, Lord Miller. If you-“ Leaning down, Henry kissed Malcolm, paralyzing him for a second- All the time he needed. Before he the corporal had a hint of a chance to gather himself again- As he looked up to Henry, for a second he was sure he could see flames dance over his lips, out of his open mouth, raising up to his eyes that were flicking with- “N-no-“ “I will be fine.” Calmly Henry stood up, to turn back to the people. If they all shot at once- Well, they wouldn’t shoot at his vitals. They clearly wanted him alive for something. Then all he would have to deal with was the drug. His mouth tasted like Malcolm’s blood. He liked that. Slowly he rose his hand, to lick off the rest of the blood and thinned down acid, as Malcolm watched from the ground, quietly realizing something- Henry took a deep breath, closing his eyes. “Your ambush was cowardly. Your trap ridiculous. But I was not mad yet, for I know that is the way you are.” His eyes wandered over everyone as adjusted his step a little bit more, to better shield the man behind him. “However, not only did you shoot at a man on the ground, which alone did seal your fate, but you also happened to shoot at my Corporal Malcolm… and unlike him… I am a little twisted.” Then his hand went down, and he opened up the chamber. It exuded a pale, golden light. And then Henry’s face was gone- Together with the rest of him. In ONE move he was forward, so much faster than Malcolm could ever be, Malcolm who staggered and stumbled, Malcolm who HESITATED- Henry was on top of the first goon, stabbing him multiple times with his golden dagger, before rolling with the body, letting it soak up the bullets, moving again within a second onto the next one who screamed loudly, his weapon useless on such a short range. One kick. He stumbled, closer to the other next victim- Gunfire. Some of them did HAVE to have hit Henry, however, he wasn’t standing still enough to show, as the two goons fell down to the ground, like oversized puppets. The other two wanted to run, gain distance, but Henry simply threw both of this weapon, splitting them with ease. The demon hadn’t moved. “What an impressive display Lieutenant Miller. How interesting to see you under the influence of the will-o-wisp. However, now you are out of weapons.” “Why thank you. My Corporal has this sort of effect on me that I desperately wish to impress him…” “You will never see him again after today, so it might be good you had this last chance.” The demon aimed calmly forward with the injection in his little gun- Just to stop for a second, his eyes widening just the tiniest bit. Due to his connection, he had seen the ATTs in action before. He had seen their movements, their attacks, their expressions- But- But what he saw in front of him now- There was something off, something abnormal- It wasn’t only that the dulling effect was taking place, it wasn’t just- Henry Miller… … was grinning. His teeth reflecting yellow and sharp in the pale golden light. He was- Enjoying himself- He wasn’t being wielded by the wisp as its senseless murder puppet- This man was battering the will-o-wisp into submission. Submission to him. It flickered so excitedly. Caught in its steel cage- No, no- It wasn’t in its lantern anymore- IT WAS IN HIS EYES AND MAW- “You know why… I saved you for last…?” Henry didn’t seem to mind not having a weapon. The devil masked man rose his weapon, trying to suppress the cold climbing up his spine as though death itself touched him. All he had to do was shoot. Then this creature would be on the ground. The body was still human. And small. It was- “… I wanted you to know that the mask you are wearing…” Abruptly he shot. It hit Henry in the shoulder, the liquid quickly emptying itself into him. Slowly he reached up and inspected the syringe. Then suddenly, his bright, white grin was back. “… thanks for providing me with the weapon, but I was not done yet. Besides, I do not need this.” And with that he was on top of the masked man, who struggled below him. “… your mask is an insult to the good name of demons. At least they have conviction.” The man froze, staring up- For a second just a second he saw a dragon opening its fire-tainted maw- Slowly Henry came to his feet, stumbling the slightest bit- Hissing. “… bastard… ruined the taste in my mouth.” Finally he wiped the blood off his face, the blood that had been on there in such quantity that it dripped onto the ground from his chin and into his clothes- Turning to Malcolm, he expected- something. Fear. Probably. But there was only such- Sadness…? Walking over to him, shuddering and in pain, he kneeled back down next to him. “We will fix you up, Malcolm-“ “… you’re hurt Lieutenant. Why… did you…” Footsteps sounded in the distance- From both sides- But before Henry could rush down the corridor to try and distract the enemy from spotting Malcolm, out of the corridor stumbled Foxy and Simon, out of breath and concerned. “L.T.!” Both of them called out. “Wh-what happened?” “You’re injured!” “Big guy-“ Henry interrupted them. “Good that you are here. Get Malcolm out. Fix him up. I will clean the place out.” “A-alone?!” “L-Lieutenant- don’t- the- the syringe-“ Coldly Henry’s glare wandered from his subordinates to Malcolm, where he paused, his eyes turning softer, but the flickering inside of his eyes didn’t die down. “… there are people somewhere in here. Stuck. I heard something as we walked. Let me get them.” His hand rose up to his belt, where the metal lantern flickered in the rhythm with his heart. “… let me do this. I always liked to play with fire.” Malcolm wanted to speak up. Object. Henry didn’t want to save these people, he wanted to use the lantern- But the other two nodded and proceeded to lean over him, helping him up, as Henry disappeared into the darkness of the red and black- and now golden- corridors. Only faintly, when they were almost gone- He could hear Henry laugh. Slowly he closed his eyes- And prayed for him to be okay. It took an eternity. Simon and Foxy were discussing if one of them should maybe go in, while Malcolm stared up into the sky, gathering himself, fully planning on standing up again, to go inside- But then they heard- Chatter. Out of the opening of the tunnels, a pale, golden light started to shine… … and slowly the silhouette of a person was recognizable, stepping closer. And behind him… … more and more people. They looked tired, beaten and battered- But they were smiling and talking. Forcing himself to stand up, not even hearing his comrades trying to talk him out of it, he walked towards the opening of the tunnel, seeing soon enough that while Henry was drenched in blood, he seemed mostly fine. Scratches and rips, but- fine. The people were celebrating when they saw the sky again. Malcolm wondered how long they’ve been down there. And for what purpose. For now, they were trying to help the weaker ones in the group with some of the food and water they had, sending a message to HQ that they needed some more people here to help. The still injured Malcolm was fairly useless- Waiting for Henry to get freed from the crowd of grateful onlookers- Until he was interrupted by a boy, barely more than a child. “This- this pink guy there! He’s awesome! He- did you see what he did?” “… no, can’t say I did…” Malcolm answered, slightly hesitant. “HE SLICED THEM! DICED THEM! PEOPLE WITH AND WITHOUT MASKS. THE SCIENTISTS TOO! HE GOT ALL OF US OUT! A-at first I couldn’t believe it- I was in this dark room- with no sound- and things got so weird, the scientists said that was normal- but then the door opened and someone- someone brought light! The Pink Guy, he brought light to me- a-and the others! And he got us out!” Making a few movements, the shaking boy jumped around, trying to do some combat motions. Hell- he probably didn’t even know he was shaking. Adrenaline? Fear? He looked up at Mal, out of brown eyes. “S-so, yeah! He’s a great person! Right? He’s so good at fighting and he- took all out of us out! We didn’t get hurt! He killed all the baddies. That makes him the good guy. Right?” Malcolm opened his mouth and he wanted to say something- positive, something good, something that would leave the kid with the sense that it all just had been a dream, a fairytale in which killing the beast was- good- … but… “No. I… do not think… the Lieutenant is a good man.” It was barely more than a whisper. “… he is merely the devil… collecting his dues. And the light you saw, it was-“ Lucifer. The light bringer. Abruptly he moved forward, reaching out for Henry, who allowed him to. “Corporal? Are you alright again…?” “I- yes. Lieutenant, please, let me- can we talk for a moment?” Lieutenant Lucifer. His eyes were dark. No hint of the hellfire left. “… of course.” They stepped away from the crowd, and as soon as they were out of sight, the big guy held out his hand. “… give it back.” Slowly Henry inspected him. “… please.” Malcolm added. With a sigh Henry picked it up from his belt, handing it over. “I suppose you need it more than I do anyhow. I do not need the will-o-wisp to guide me.” “I’ve… seen.” For a moment he paused, then he spoke up. “Uhm- Lieutenant- can I ask something?” “Of course, go ahead.” “Why… the scientists?” Henry paused. “You are right in assuming they were not dangerous, however- they would have run.” “You know that?” “I know that. And cowards like them, if they do not face their punishment by the law… I have to do it myself.” It was quiet for a moment, then Malcolm spoke up again. Hesitant. Afraid. “Uhm- you looked absolutely nightmarish with that lamp.” Even worse than the troops he had walked into fire and brimstone with. And now all he could think of- “… do I look like you… with that lamp…?” For a second Henry stared at him blankly- Then he started laughing. A bit embarrassed the taller guy stepped back. “I- I’m sorry if I offended you or-“ “Oh- oh no- oh Malcolm, you sweet, naïve man-“ Calming down, he wiped a tear away. “… Corporal… Malcolm… you really never pay attention while using the lantern, do you? Well then, let me tell you one thing about yourself.” Leaning over, he signed Mal to lean in too. “… Malcolm… … when using the lamp… … you are NOT the one smiling.” At that he tipped his subordinate onto the nose and turned. As Malcolm watched. Tracing the devil’s steps. Following another lightbringer. He supposed… that was what he was made for. To stay in Lucifier’s steps. But for what purpose he couldn’t yet tell. To join him? To suffer at his hands? To stop him? Hopefully he would find out soon.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Dragon Dancer IV: Love is Death

Early morning, before the sun came up and the song of birds filled the crisp mountain air, the women inhabitants of the small Tibetan village passed by the temple singing religious texts as they made the thirty minute walk to the stream to fetch the day’s water. The line of them was composed of girls as young as fourteen and women as old as eighty-four. Looking at them was like looking at the same woman through time.

The sound of a ringing bell stopped them in their tracks. For them, the bell symbolized Buddha's voice. It called for the protection of heavenly deities and equaled the sound of the Dharma, the entity or law which sustained the order of things in the universe.

They stopped their daily walk, lowered themselves, and bowed, the large wooden buckets still on their backs.

Within the inner courtyard of the temple, the ringing came from the clash of metal on metal, the collision of two swords in the predawn dark wielded by shadows. Their forms flowed like ghosts, only the small puff of the dust of the ground indicated that they still were subject to the laws of gravity.

------------------------

When I talked to people about Chu Zihang, they would mention his stoic, emotionless appearance and tight rigorous way of life. They called him a robot. From when he woke up in the morning, to what he ate during the day, to the position of his body when he slept at night everything in his life was geared toward a singular goal

While he yielded and allowed people their personal preferences, when it came to his own choices, moving him was like trying to move an oak tree.

As I sparred with him, however, his precision, speed and efficiency evoked in my mind the professional violinist. He never never hit a wrong note. Motion and breath were in concert.  A thrust turned into a parry, a parry into a cut, as if following a score I couldn’t see but understood.

His sparring followed an internal logic. When I could follow it, I knew when to strike and when to retreat, keeping that precise distance that would allow me to reach him and prevent him from reaching me. Spinning like planets in orbit, I could feel our music and I smiled despite myself.

“Good.” He said, pausing as we separated. “You’ve improved.”

I leveled my sword at him. “That’s not a compliment coming from you.”

“I’ve been gone for months, and you’ve only gotten better.”

“That’s more like it.”

“I’m going to push you now.”

“Alright.”

Unlike Zihang, I hadn’t trained all my life to be a fighter. For Zihang, fighting was like breathing. Swinging a sword to him was like catching a fly in midair without looking. When he pushed, he broke out of the sheet music and became a jazz composer at the piano, banging out an improvisation that only he could follow.

My job was to turn off the classical music and try to keep up.

He shifted from the traditional Japanese swordplay, weaving strikes from Muy Thuy and kicks from Tae Kwon Do. His posture lured me in with the promise of the familiar steps we had just finished practicing, but it was a trap, always a trap. I examined how his open arm was a potential grapple, watched his feet to see where he might go and had to be prepared to be wrong. My heart pounded and my head filled with uncertainty.

There was no smiling now. He was no longer my dance partner. He was my enemy. He crowded me, eyes intently watching me, breaking down my every move into its component parts and precisely baffling my strategy before I could even move.

Frustrated, I kicked his instep, cut upward and forced him back, but he only retreated a single step, staying in range of Spider Fang’s sword point. I was going to go in for a thrust, but he was still there. I stopped millimeters before I could stab him in the chest, startling that he hadn’t moved out of the way like I expected.

A blow to my chest knocked me down, flat on my back, and I felt a sharp sting on my collarbone.

I opened my eyes, glaring at him. “What was that?! I could have killed you!”

“Probably the most important lesson you’re going to have to learn.” He stared down at me and offered his hand to help me up.

I felt at the sting and my fingertips came back red. “You want me to stab you?” I asked in disbelief.

I held up my bloody hand to him and he pulled me up. “Yes.” 

“That’s kind of ... not the point of sparring you know.” I gave a nervous laugh. “You can’t be serious.”

“I know. But things are a little different now. Do you know why the Execution Department has a policy against couples going into battle together?”

“Because of the Greenland incident right? Something about that mission...” I said, holding my hand to my chest to slow the bleeding.

“That’s right. Anjou explained to me before our wedding. He said, ‘Love is the death of the dragonslayer.’“

We stood in the dark, talking in hushed tones. The temple would be waking up soon. The monks knew the secrets of the dragon clan of course, but we were unwilling to say too much lest the Gattusos somehow found their way here.

“Dragons can read the mind of a human to look for weaknesses. The first thing they hone in on by instinct is human love. It differs from their love, because their love is disposable. They’re willing to kill the people they love to get what they want. They understand that very few humans are willing to do that.”

“Anjou was willing to let me marry you because I killed Jormangandr, a dragon who turned herself into a human, followed me around since I was a boy, and made me love her.”

“Jormangandr took advantage of my feelings to the very end, trusting that, if she appeared to be the person I had fallen in love with, I would allow her to kill me. I played along.”

Zihang stepped forward, wrapped his arm around me in a hug, while I stood stiffly, restraining my taut emotions. The point of a blade against my back made me gasp. “I offered to hug her, just like this.”

The tip of the knife, the one I didn’t know he had hidden on himself, made my skin itch. “She fell for it. She was overconfident. She thought she knew that this was her opportunity to land a fatal blow. Because she knew by now that I loved her. So she hugged me. I stabbed her and she died... very painfully. I had to listen to her screaming, hold her as she struggled.”

I took a deep breath, taking in his scent. I hugged him back.

He kept the tip of the blade against my back even as he kissed the top of my head. “If I hadn’t... I wouldn’t be here. And neither would the world as we know it.”

“You nailed Susie to the floor... knowing who she was..." I said.

“You need to be able to kill me. Or I can’t take you with me, Meixiu. That mindless monster on the boat knew enough to try to use me as a shield against you. We’re going up against someone who can alter memories, peer into our hearts and see our deepest desires. It isn’t a matter of if.”

“You’ll kill me if you have to, right?” I asked him.

“Yes.” 

I raised my head to look up at him. He lifted his hand and ran his thumb down my cheek. 

“Then its only fair. That way, only one of us has to die.” I said.

“It’s easy to say. Let’s go again.” He let me go and walked away, lifting Tongzi against me.

“If I’m going to kill you, I’m not going to use this.” I turned the hilt of Spider Fang to him.

He lowered his sword and walked up to me to take the sword. Instead, I pulled the spear of light from the latent energy of the Chaos in the Void. It dazzled in the dark, lighting my face, giving off a soft hiss.

My heart quivered as I faced him, my expression sad. It wasn’t even the real thing, and yet it was. If I didn’t have a killing intent, then Zihang would view this spar as unsuccessful and wouldn’t let me go with him.

“I will kill you,” I said, feeling the tears rise. “I have to trust you not to die!”

I moved faster than the eye could follow. My spear left a blackened mark on the dirt where he stood but he was no longer there. 

The spear turned and chased him.

Tongzi, the Alchemy long knife, could actually withstand the powerful energy in the Chaos Spear enough for it to repel. Zihang used it, smacking the tip of the spear away from his face. 

One was not enough to kill him. 

I summoned another to my side and sent it after him. They hovered, pointing at him from left and right. He held still, his ears listening. I squinted at him and decided on left first, since I was right handed. 

The left spear dove in and the right followed quickly. Zihang moved back, raising the blade to parry them both. The spears bent around the blade and kept their trajectory. He jumped high enough to clear an eight foot fence and they followed him, one upward, the other anticipating where he would land.

He twisted in mid air and dodged them both.

I hissed and summoned a third after him. 

He spun like a top striking all three.

The more I summoned, the harder they were to control. While two would move, aiming at his head and heart, the third would lag behind, forgotten in my mind until I gave it instructions.

Zihang immediately picked up on this. As soon as I attacked, one spear in front, the other behind, he dove behind the motionless third, using it as his own defense!

The Chaos spears of light collided and sent a shockwave through the courtyard.

I saw an opening. I summoned another, remotely, near to him. Sound was his only warning. He lashed out with Tongzi to stop it and the spear wrapped up the blade like a serpent. He dropped it and rolled away.

Were we done? I didn’t know. He didn’t say we were.  I summoned a spear high in the air above him, a pinpoint of light, out of sight and then I summoned a dozen spears to ring him in a tight circle to keep him from moving.

In my mind, I gave the floating spear over head instructions to fall and let go of it, not altering the trajectory.

Zihang knew I couldn’t control all of these at once. He struck out at them, knocking two away and then turned to look for an attack from behind that didn’t come. I saw the flash of the whites of his eyes.

He looked up and I closed my eyes tightly shut. Everything in me screamed to stop the attack to vanish the spear coming down on him. My heart burned, the fire spreading to every limb. 

A blast of intense heat was like a sunburn on every patch of skin not protected by clothing. I opened my eyes. “Zihang!”

The ground was smoldering, the dust black and sparkling with hot embers where he had been. I looked around until I saw him, pushing himself up from the ground to sit up.

I ran to him, collapsing into his arms, sobbing. “Are you okay? Did I hit you?”

“You came very close.” His shirt was split open, the skin underneath bleeding in a straight line.

Gasping, I covered my mouth with my hand.

He chuckled. “Sword of Damocles?”

“Yes...” I whimpered.

“You used Susie’s technique... the ring of blades.” He nodded once. He looked at my face, the tears there. He had to see how much I was trembling, like I would shake myself apart. If he hadn’t used Royal Fire to propel himself away, he would have died instantly.

The lights came on all over the temple and people were shouting.

He stood up, bringing me with him. I leaned against him. “Okay... let’s go... this probably woke up Ru’Yi.”

[sasorikigai]

BLOOD TIES - Kamidogu Meta 

In the Red Dragon Temple somewhere in China (near Linxia), Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang) attempts to steal retrieve the Kamidogu Dagger for Lord Raiden. He is interrupted by Kano, as the Curse of the Kamidogu corrupts the cryomancer, giving him the character-defining scar on his right eye. After Kano comments about the nature of the Kamidogu Dagger, that Kuai Liang will be possessed by the Blood Code and for the curse to be broken, he would just have to kill himself - the possessed. Kuai Liang not only throws a frigid haymaker on Kano’s right hand - where his cyberized eye lays - but rips the device out and escapes. At this point, Kuai Liang would have only recently come back from being cyberized as Cyber Sub-Zero (LK-520), but as a Revenant of the Netherrealm alongside Scorpion also. The concept of death and his mortality is a double-edged sword, yet no panic sets in as Sub-Zero escapes, bloodied and corrupted. The agonizing whirlwind of the innocents who had died as their flesh becoming translucent, and being shattered like glass shards continue to haunt him again. 

It also showcases Kuai Liang’s stamina and resilience as a human cryomancer, capable of not only overwhelming Kano, who had been unmarred and having been in such advantageous position over him, but his unsurpassed cryomancy as well. As a hybrid of a Cryomancer and human, Sub-Zero controls the power of ice and cold effortlessly. He can generate cold ice by absorbing the surrounding air and releasing it as cold energy to freeze water vapor. By using his powers and creativity, he can create ice constructs of varying purposes, weapons being an example out of many. 

Meanwhile, as Hanzo Hasashi and Takeda Takahashi pushes on for the Sky Temple, they camp close as Hanzo witnesses the streaking lightning, along with the clouds that get too close. Corrupted Raiden comes crashing down from the skies, knocking Hanzo off his feet and electrocuting him, spilling the doctrines of the Blood Code. When Takeda interrupts and stabs Raiden from the back, Raiden also zaps him. 

In the Himalayas a few weeks ago, Hanzo contradicts what Takeda says as hellfire being not a style, but his curse; hellfire is a burden he has carried since the day everything changed for him. He sites that the last seconds of his life passed like hours, as the massacre of the Shirai Ryu was an outrage, but it was nothing compared to what his eyes held in those final moment. His beautiful family, frozen, as the village blazed around the Hasashi family. Hanzo prayed that ice would thaw, he prayed not to the Gods, but to the fire itself, for Harumi (Kana), his wife and Satoshi (Jubei), his innocent child. He died, but his soul kept praying for fire until Quan Chi answered. Fire did not burn him, and Quan Chi never controlled him, he was never his Revenant, but a volunteer; for his loss had become a fire within, and the dark sorcerer only stroked the flames with promises of justice and vengeance. 

Hellfire consumed my heart, my name, and my conscience. 

An Anti-Villain is the opposite of an Anti-Hero — a character with heroic goals, personality traits, and/or virtues who is ultimately the villain. His desired ends are mostly good, but his means of getting there range from evil to undesirable. Alternatively, his goals may be selfish or have long-term consequences he doesn’t care about, but essentially, Hanzo is a good person who might even team up with the hero if their goals don't conflict. In terms of personality, Hanzo Hasashi is shown to be kind-hearted and can be caring and honorable in nature, even towards their enemies, but it can be possible for them to treat their own allies with rudeness, which by its own accord, is a very unusual trait to possess. Moreover, compared to regular villains that are just simply evil, anti-villains are often neutral - depending on the writers of said characters. Those that are part of the neutral alignments however, aren't exactly benevolent, but they aren't malevolent either. As Scorpion, the Netherrealm’s hellspawn spectre, he would find vengeance, but not justice. The fire remained, and he would keep fighting, even after his life was restored. 

"Long is the way, and hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light."

Hanzo Hasashi is an atoner, who thinks he doesn’t deserve a second chance, after all the murders he’d committed willfully, a suicide in the form of hara-kiri. As in Japanese culture, traditionally suicide can be done to cleanse one's honor, as Hanzo would have struggled with the demons in his mind (Scorpion), swaying his temperaments, which makes him The Wild Card - who is a character so used to swinging between teams that they have no default "good" or "evil" character alignment or even a "home team." He truly is not interested in consistently remaining with either side, and will very often simply want both to leave them alone. He is the sort of person who will stay out of things entirely, until someone else (usually the hero or other sympathetic character) asks him for help (in this case, Raiden and Kenshi, who is ‘a wise man’ in the story, who saw Hanzo’s hellfire for what it was). 

Kenshi Takahashi was who saw through Hanzo’s shame, pain, loss that he couldn’t ever lose. And Hanzo still has to relive the moment of his own death when wielding hellfire, and has to risk destroying himself all over again every single time. Hanzo’s recovery would have been ungraceful, and feeling ephemeral, even as his grief and remorse claws at his throat. He wishes he could clam up his emotions and keep them safe, but he tends to wear his emotions on his sleeves as his hot-tempered impulsiveness and always choosing fight over flight when Hanzo’s own survival mechanism, enabling him to react quickly to life-threatening situations with offense, instead of defense. 

Hanzo completely dominates Raiden, even when Raiden is a demigod, obviously canonically proven to be stronger than him. Not only Hanzo blames Raiden for destroying the Second Shirai Ryu and killing Takeda, but the act of giving the Kamidogu Dagger to himself as well. It serves as Hanzo’s berserk button, which is one type of trigger, where the response to a minor or generally insignificant thing is one of extreme anger. That is, engaging the trigger turns an ordinary character into the berserker. The Berserker is a character who throws himself into a fight with such reckless abandon, it seems like he wants to die. It could be over-enthusiasm, overconfidence, unstoppable rage, or the desire to die (in battle). Whatever the cause, it's usually accompanied by a bellowing warcry (Hanzo’s characteristic baritone). Sometimes with total obliviousness to whether he's actually fighting the enemy.

And he never, ever retreats. This is only amplified by his paternal instincts towards Takeda, as agonizing pain and torment of losing too many continues to fuel his feral viciousness towards Raiden. All of this could be accumulated and summarized as love, which breaks the barriers between bodies and perhaps minds, as ouroboros of life and death encircles and becomes a repeated loop. He still manifests himself as a ghost, haunted by his own memory, bound to relive moments as if they are a means of a way out. The one shot at Hanzo’s own freedom and yet, still blinded enough to believe only in his tenacious, unyielding and resilient will that keeps him going all along, as Gods only exist to mess and ruin the course of his life and perhaps fate. 

Hanzo only stops his onslaught and assault when he finds out Takeda’s alive. Hanzo also doesn’t ever hold himself from speaking his mind, saying that Raiden WILL heal Takeda back to health with Jinsei - the Earthrealm’s life force - as Takeda fights for his life. The Kamidogu relates back to Shinnok’s Amulet; for the daggers serve as the keys, and each Kamigodu blade tested the blood of the one being, as its essence dwells within them. Raiden, in tne end, apologizes for not revealing the true nature of daggers’ perilous nature, as the Thunder God did not foresee a demon corrupting the blood magik. Raiden informs Hanzo that all of the other Kamidogu are accounted for, except the one stolen many years ago, which Sub-Zero happens to be in the possession of, as he has been corrupted with the Blood Code. Hanzo makes a promise that he will find Sub-Zero, dead or alive. 

"I knew I couldn’t kill them. More powerful men than me have tried. But if I could get them to kill each other …"

This only draws timeless stigma that has been rampant throughout the Mortal Kombat lore, as when Raiden shows up, people are bound to be dead (as proven with so many kombatants, including Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Hanzo Hasashi throughout the games), as Sub-Zero’s near-death which will come later in the comics, along with Hanzo and Kuai’s bitter rivalry, extended beyond as even with Hanzo’s resurrection, the bitter feud between Scorpion and Sub-Zero extends to their human counterparts, as this event takes way before MKX storyline. Fate had already been unkind to them, as they both turned evil, lest one was a volunteer, and one held at dark sorcery without volition. 

"It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."

On the other hand, this continued rivalry may become a precursor that shows the unfurling events of the future, where they would develop a genuine friendship with the hero and perform a heel-face turn somewhere down the line. For Hanzo Hasashi’s morality was never at tabula rasa; for his intrinsic temperaments weren’t evil to begin with, as they both were pawns in Quan Chi’s malignant scheme to pin them forth as mortal rivals with misconstrued understandings.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Viego, the Ruined King build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Pan Chengwei. Made for Riot Games.)

What? Did you expect me not to make this? It’s the goddamn Ruined King! He’s finally out after all these years! I mean sure he’s a goddamn twink but still; he’s finally out! Also Samira build is coming out 35 years from now.

And even though I put a Warlock TikTok meme in my last video, here’s a whole bunch of them because... yeah no shit he’s a Hexblade... Of the Ruined King.

GOALS

Ruin to all! - MIST'S EDGE: Basic attacks deal a percentage of the target's current health bonus physical damage on-hit.

Serve me in death - If you ever wanted to play as the enemy for a bit Viego will let you take a ghost or two; as a treat.

The mist is my great unending sadness - Foggy days are typical for an edgy boy, and King Ruin is so edgy he wants to cover the entire world with fog! Yeah that “mist is sadness” quote is real; I got it from the Wiki.

RACE

Viego is a human... but he has a great degree of variance. We’ll be going for yet another Variant Human because we’re not allowed any monster champions anymore. As a Variant Human you get a +1 in two different stats of your choice: increase your Charisma and Strength by 1 for the strength to be beautiful for your queen. You also get proficiency in a skill of your choice: Perception will let you see through the mist and search far-and-wide for your queen. And you get a language of your choice: Abyssal seems reasonable to speak to the mist.

Of course the main appeal of Variant Human is the feat at level 1, and to swing the Blade of the Ruined King Great Weapon Master will let you cut through a percentage of the enemy’s health! When you make a melee attack with a heavy weapon (such as a greatsword), you can choose to take a -5 penalty to your hit chance. If you do hit you’ll do an extra 10 damage with your strike! And as an added bonus when you score a critical hit (with a melee weapon) or kill a creature, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action!

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - League of shirtless anime boys amIrite? Gotta look good for Isolde.

14; DEXTERITY - Repeat after me: “something something Medium Armor.”

13; STRENGTH - This is a requirement for another one of the classes we’ll be taking. Yup this isn’t just straight 20 levels in Hexblade!

12; CONSTITUTION - A ruined king with a blackened heart is still allowed to have some health.

10; WISDOM - Destroying the entire planet just to simp for your wife isn’t the wisest move.

8; INTELLIGENCE - Nor is it the smartest.

BACKGROUND

You were the king of a long-forgotten nation, so unfortunately noble wouldn’t work. But you still have servants! The Knight background grants proficiency in the History that you lived through as well as Persuasion to get Isolde back. You also get proficiency with a Gaming Set and Language of your choice, which I’d say pick your fancy.

But the main reason we’re taking Knight (and not Noble) is for Retainers! You get three knights sworn to your kingdom (Kalista, Hecarim, and the third one) who will do mundane tasks for you. While Hecarim may be up for a slaughter unfortunately your retainers can’t do anything in combat and won’t follow you into dangerous locations. And of course if you treat your subjects poorly they will leave you. But it can always be useful to have more spirits in the mist to search for her!

(Artwork by @thejenneralchen on Twitter)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - PALADIN 1

Hah! Did you think we’d be starting with Warlock? Put simply we need things from Paladin more, notably the proficiencies as well as starting equipment. Dude imagine having to spend 3200 gold to buy the sword literally named after you? But for now you might just want to grab a Longsword to start. Regardless Paladins get proficiency in two skills from the Paladin list: Athletics are required in the jungle, and Intimidation will let everyone meet know that you will stop at nothing for her! You fucking simp...

You also get Divine Sense to sense the beasts of the mist, or your queen. As an action you can know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the creature type, but not its identity. Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated. (Have a feeling you’ll find a lot of desecrated areas.) You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier plus 1, and regain all uses at the end of a Long Rest.

And you can restore a bit of health thanks to Lay on Hands. You have a pool of healing equal to 5 times your Paladin level that comes back at the end of a Long Rest. You can heal a creature for any number of hitpoints from that pool as an action when you touch them, or cure a disease / poison affecting them with 5 hitpoints. Man that would’ve been useful a couple of thousand years ago, huhn?

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

Time to pick up the Sword of the Ruler of the Mist. Hm... There has to be a better way of saying that. Regardless Warlocks get to choose their subclass at level 1 and to get a comedically large sword that saps peoples’ lifeforce we’ll be opting for the one, the only Hexblade patron! As a Hex Warrior you can wield martial weapons as well as medium armor (which you already could cause Paladin), but can also choose to swing a sword with your Charisma instead of your Strength or Dexterity. Which is great because you’re not exactly the buff sort. Unfortunately you can’t use a two-handed greatsword just yet, which is why I said you’d do good to grab a longsword instead.

But if you are locked in combat Hexblade’s Curse will make sure that you can dispose of them quickly. As a bonus action you can mark a target for 1 minute. During that time you do bonus damage equal to your proficiency bonus to the cursed target, crit on a 19 or a 20, and regain hit points equal to your warlock level + your Charisma modifier when you kill them. The curse ends early if the target dies, you die, or you are incapacitated.

And of course as a Warlock you get Pact Magic. You learn two cantrips and two leveled spells: Eldritch Blast will let you manipulate the mists for a ranged attack, and Prestidigitation will help you keep clean and kingly despite all the black mist flowing out of that gaping stab wound in your chest. As for leveled spells Armor of Agathys will let you put on some Thornmail to keep your health up and hit your foes back, and I mean Shield is on the Hexblade expanded spell list anyways so we may as well use it.

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations as the mist manipulates your body and soul. For now take Devil’s Sight to see through your Harrowed Path with your dumb human eyes, and we’ll be leaving the other invocation slot open for a level.

You also get another spell but all the other first level spells don’t really interest me. Yeah we’re not taking Hex you’re going to have to live with it!

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon for a particular tool of the Warlock trade, and to wield a weapon of spectral steel grab Pact of the Blade! The long and short of it is you can make yourself any melee weapon, and Hex Warrior affects any weapon you summon with this feature! This means that you can actually wield a two-handed Greatsword, but feel free to choose other options. Especially now that you can take the Improved Pact Weapon invocation to turn that Cutlass of the Twink King into a +1 weapon, and also summon yourself a gun (shortbow / longbow / light crossbow / heavy crossbow) if you so desire. But I mean, why would you when you have Eldritch Blast?

You can also add some second level spells to your list like Darkness to walk a Harrowed Path through the mist, though remember that even if you can see through the mist your allies probably can’t. And Misty Step, because something something Flash.

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 4

4th level means the first of many Ability Score Improvements. Charisma is used for everything that you do so... maybe increase that?

You also get another spell and another cantrip! For your cantrip Mage Hand is helpful to manipulate the mist to grab things from high places. As for leveled spells Blur is on the Hexblade list... but why would you take that instead of Mirror Image, which doesn’t require Concentration.

(Artwork by @WetHamster1 on Twitter)

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get more Eldritch Invocations. To knock a foe down with Spectral Maw take Eldritch Smite, letting you channel a spell slot into a particularly deadly slash of your Viego’s Edge.

If you want an extra attack early you can also replace Improved Pact Weapon with Thirsting Blade, which is now available. But we will be getting Extra Attack from other sources later.

You can also now learn third level spells like Vampiric Touch for a bit of lifesteal. As a treat.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Hexblades can put their passive to work, and have spirits serve your Sovereign's Domination. Accursed Specter lets you use the soul of a humanoid you killed and make it serve you, using the stats of a specter with temporary hit points equal to half your Warlock level and a bonus to hit equal to your Charisma modifier. The specter remains in your service until the end of your next long rest, which is good because you can use the ability once per Long Rest. The specter rolls initiative separately from you, and obeys your commands.

And hey: you’ve already got ghosts fighting for you, so why not summon your depression to fight as well? Summon Shadowspawn from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (requires a 300 gold gemstone containing tears and) summons a spirit of Fury, Despair, or Fear to fight alongside you. There’s a lot of specifics to this spell that I don’t want to go into (its actual description does a far better job than I ever could) but the important thing to note is that it’ll give you another loyal follower.

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 2

Time for a few levels in that other class we have. Second level Paladins can choose their Fighting Style and of course to swing a Shank of the Former Blessed Isles Great Weapon Fighting (style) will let you reroll low die to more reliably cut through the mists.

Paladins also get Spellcasting at level 2, and unlike with Warlock casting you actually get some spell slots! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level (rounded down.) Divine Favor will let you do a bit more damage with your titular blade, and if you want more of a burst of damage then either Thunderous Smite or Wrathful Smite will do some more damage along with additional effects. To protect yourself from the mists and others who’d want to keep you from Isolde take Protection from Evil and Good. And to borrow a death realm from the other world-ending lord of Runeterra take Compelled Duel.

Of course you could ignore all that spellcasting stuff for even more Damage of the Ruined Blade! Divine Smite will let you do 2d8 damage with a first level spell slot, plus an additional 1d8 per spell slot above first, up to a maximum of 5d8 (with a 4th level slot.) Additionally if you hit an undead or fiend you’ll do an extra d8, meaning that with a 4th level spell slot you can do 6d8 damage!

The real neat thing is that this works with Smite spells as well as the Eldritch Smite invocation, allowing you to effectively use two spell slots at once to smite if you so desire.

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 3

3rd level Paladins get to choose their Divine Oath and nothing will stop your Oath of Conquest to save your queen. You get to add the Command spell to your spell list, as well as Armor of Agathys... Uh woups. Uh we’ll address that when we go back to Warlock.

You get two Channel Divinity options: to keep others from stopping you from reaching your queen Conquering Presence will let you force a Wisdom save on units of your choice within 30 feet to frighten them! Alternatively Guided Strike is like Great Weapon Master but in reverse, giving you +10 to hit. This means that if you use Great Weapon Master as well you’d have a +5 to hit and do +10 damage! But remember that you only have one Channel Divinity per short rest.

You also get Divine Health, because simps don’t take sick days.

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement, and we still use Charisma for basically everything so with this you can cap it off completely!

You can also prepare two more spells but... there isn’t much I want from first level? I mean you can take Cure Wounds for a bit of healing... as treat.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins get an Extra Attack. If you took Thirsting Blade from Warlock you might want to replace that too.

You can also prepare second level Paladin spells now! As a Conquest Paladin you get Hold Person to stun with Spectral Maw, and Spiritual Weapon for more soldiers from the mist. You can also prepare Aid to strengthen your army and Branding Smite to see your foes through the mist.

(Artwork by @vmatbox on Twitter)

LEVEL 12 - WARLOCK 7

Back to Warlock to replace a lot of things. But firstly you get another Eldritch Invocation: take Trickster's Escape for an emergency QSS.

You also get 4th level spells like Shadow of Moil to become a creature of the mist, and also to get an upgrade from the Darkness spell (which you might want to replace.) Speaking of replacing spells: you got Armor of Agathys from Paladin so replace it with Hallucinatory Terrain to cover the land with mist.

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. We’ll be taking the Eldritch Adept feat for more Eldritch Invocations. Which Eldritch Invocation? Why Undying Servitude of course, for more servants of the mist!

D&D Beyond tip: Replace Devil’s Sight and then give yourself 120 feet of Darkvision on the sheet.

You can also get another 4th level spell like Dimension Door, to travel far and wide in a flash to reach your queen.

LEVEL 14 - WARLOCK 9

Hey more Eldritch Invocations! Whispers of the Grave will let you speak to the fragments of Isolde’s soul.

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 10

And hey: 5th level spells finally! To strike a foe with Heartbreaker take 

Negative Energy Flood, sundering their health and making them rise to serve you if you end up killing them.

10th level Hexblades get Armor of Hexes. If the target affected by your Hexblade’s Curse hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to roll a d6. On a 4 or higher, the attack instead misses you, regardless of its roll. Naturally this ability makes you particularly good in a 1v1 with whoever you target for Ruination.

You don’t get another spell but you do get a cantrip. Take Toll the Dead to deal with enemies who have high armor, for the mist comes for all.

(Artwork by @stingrae36 on Twitter)

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 11

11th level Warlocks get their 6th level Mystic Arcanum, which looks like a spell slot and acts like a spell slot (IE it comes back after a Long Rest, not a Short one) but can’t be used to upcast your other spells. You can only use it to cast one spell, and for an AoE Heartbreaker take good ol’ Circle of Death.

Also more spells known from your regular Warlock slots: Banishing Smite is on the Hexblade list, and can be used to send any demons back to whence they came.

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 12

12th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. I have no idea what else to grab so take the Tough feat for a much needed 24 hitpoint increase to a primarily melee-based character.

You also get another Eldritch Invocation so it’s finally time to get the true Blade of the Ruined King damage with Lifedrinker! This will make any foe struck by your Pact Weapon take an additional 5 necrotic damage. This means that you should be doing 2d6 + 11 damage with every swing of a (+1) Greatsword!

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 13

More Mystic Arcanum, this time at 7th level! Power Word Pain will let you subjugate the weak.

And more regular spells: Danse Macabre lets you get more servants forever loyal at your side!

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 14

14th level Hexblades are Master of Hexes. Put simply: when a creature affected by Hexblade’s Curse dies, you can apply the curse to a different creature you can see within 30 feet of you. (Though you won’t be healed for the last foe’s death.) This will let you bounce your curse around and reap all its benefits constantly, becoming a master of your own blade.

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 15

Our last level is the 15th level of Warlock for a handful of benefits. Firstly we can get an 8th level Mystic Arcanum: Feeblemind is the ultimate tool to truly sunder the weak and discard the chaff.

Secondly you can get your level 15 Eldritch Invocations, and to never mistake Isolde’s face Witch Sight will let you see through any illusion that may be hiding her!

You may also want to replace Improved Pact Weapon as by this point you’ve likely found something better than a regular old +1 greatsword. Visions of Distant Realms and Shroud of Shadows are both very good options.

And we can finally get our last spell: as you gather enough information on the new world Scrying will help you expand your search further beyond!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Surrender to me! - Two smites plus Great Weapon Master on an already deadly blade results in absolutely devastating spikes of damage with your sword. God forbid you crit!

The black mist flows from me like a tide - You also have plenty of tricks to give you an upper hand in longer combats. Hexblade’s Curse of course, but also Armor of Agathys, Shadow of Moil, and Spiritual Weapon.

Fight, puppet; fight for your king! - You can summon all manner of ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, zombies, and everything in between to serve in your search for your queen.

CONS

The world denied my happiness - Low ability scores mean that your skills won’t be amazing. The ones you’re proficient in are alright but you aren’t much help outside of being deadly and being royal.

Answer for your crimes, death; answer me! - We didn’t take the 6th level of Paladin which means we didn’t get Aura of Protection. As a result your saving throws are rather low, and while I tried to avoid grabbing too many Concentration spells yo do still have quite a few, which is not at all helped by your meager +1 to CON.

She remains in this world; I can feel it - All the melee tools in the world don’t mean much when you lack any proper way to get close. You have Eldritch blast sure but beyond Dimension Door (which granted is very strong) enemies can easily keep their distance from the mad king with a big blade. Even if you want to use Dimension Door you have a very limited amount of spell slots.

But the world can only hide from the Ruination for so long. The black mist comes, and with it you come to search for your queen. Nothing can stop you; nothing will stop you until you have her again. The world shall be torn to shreds and shattered beyond repair, as long as you can have your queen... Or like, just find a Wish spell or something? Shame you’re a couple thousand years old because True Resurrection doesn’t even work anymore.

(Artwork by Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Made for Riot Games.)

[kaitoujokerscans]

Showdown in the Dark Night! Joker vs Shadow CH3

<3>Reunion

At the same time around the other end of the manor, patrol cars with their red lights and sirens were roving about, and searchlights whirled dizzyingly over the area. They were watching the sky so closely that not even a fly could slip by unnoticed.

A dark silhouette jumped down from the manor's roof into the bushes. It was Shadow, who had just stolen the golden hairpin. He seared the handcuff on his wrist with the heat from his umbrella tip and cast it off. "Blast, I can only escape on the ground." He gave up on an aerial retreat and sprinted through the courtyard. He had hidden his trusty bike "Black Speeder" in the garden for just this very situation.

He had finally gotten the treasure before Joker. All I have to do now is use it... Shadow put a hand to the hairpin in his breast pocket. Rose welled up in his mind. He hadn't told Rose about this venture. He had secretly come out by himself. Shadow passed through the courtyard breezeway and came out of the forest thicket. In front of him was a sizeable glass-walled greenhouse.

Just as he was about to go around it, he heard a voice from behind him. "Oniichan."

"!?" Shadow turned around in surprise. "Rose...!" There was Rose, breathing heavily. "Why are you here?"

"Same to you, Oniichan. Why did you go out by yourself? When I came after you, I heard a sudden explosion, so..."

"T-That was..."

"You're plotting something on your own, aren't you?" Rose prodded a little angrily. Shadow was weak against that look.

"N-No, well..." Shadow unconsciously put his hand up to his chest.

"That's where the treasure you stole is, right? What'd you take?"

"This is..."

"What? You can't show me?"

"Ur..." Shadow looked at Rose and tried to say something, but before he could--

"There you are, Shadow Joker!"

"!?"

When he looked around again, there was Oniyama standing imposingly and holding out a roped pair of handcuffs. "You're so under arrest!" Oniyama swung the cuffs around and ran towards him.

"Drat...!" Shadow quickly held up his umbrella and shot beams. "Bloody Rain!" But Oniyama was also quite swift. He jumped to the sides of Shadow's beams and kept dodging. "What!?"

"Ha ha ha, don't underestimate the police!"

"You cheeky-!" Shadow fired with even more intensity. Oniyama had not lost yet, however. He frantically evaded the shots and came ever closer to Shadow. "Ghh!" Shadow grabbed hold of Rose and jumped back.

"Oniichan, shall I?"

"Step back! I'm going to exterminate him here!" Shadow moved Rose behind him and turned to Oniyama with a death glare. He raised his umbrella to face level and pointed the end at Oniyama, gazing down it as if it were a rifle scope. "Snipe mode! Bloody Rain!" The beam fired towards its target more precisely than usual. It hit square on Oniyama's leg.

"Gah..." Oniyama held his leg and kneeled down.

"Heh, now he can't come after us. Rose, are you all right?" Shadow turned back, but for some reason, Rose wasn't there. "Rose?"

That was the moment.

"Ha ha ha ha ha hah!"

"!?" A familiar laugh came from above. The most despised, vexing voice in the world, and the one that riled Shadow up the most, rang through the darkness of night. Shadow looked up to see Rose floating in the air, Balloon Gum in hand.

"You're always so meek with your sister, Shadow!" Rose's body inflated and popped apart with a bang.

"Grrh...!" Shadow watched the boy who appeared from within with gritted teeth.

He wore a bright red suit and blue silk hat, with a brilliant letter "J" shining on his chest and shapely patent leather shoes on his feet. His purple cape billowed in the wind. His glossy silver hair was now neatly set, and a clear light shone in his goggled blue eyes. His high and loudmouthed laugh was bursting with confidence. He was no longer a pitiful excuse in pajamas. This here was indeed Phantom Thief Joker...!

"Rrrgh... Joker!" Yes, who he had thought was Rose was actually Joker in an Image Gum disguise. Image Gum is one of the phantom thief tools in Joker's arsenal. An image formed in the mind is transferred to the gum, and by blowing the gum, it can be formed into any shape. It can be wrapped around oneself as a disguise or be used to create a variety of objects. Behind him, Oniyama also expanded and blew apart with a bang. Hachi popped out from inside wearing an apologetic expression.

"You punk, you dared to pretend to be Rose... I won't forgive you for that!"

"Heh heh, sorry for being late. But you were a great help for stealing this in my place." Joker held the golden hairpin in front of his face and smiled.

Shadow's eyes instantly ignited with anger. He rapidly positioned his umbrella, aimed it into the sky, and fired without a word. The beam pierced through the Balloon Gum and Joker fell to the ground. "Waaugh! Say the attack name like you always do!" Joker called out as he hastily ran away.

"Shut your trap! I'm going to kill you right now!" Shadow threatened, firing a barrage of beams at Joker.

"Waah, hold it, Shadow!!" Joker hopped around and barely avoided each of the beams. He turned in mid-air and landed on the ground. The two faced off in front of the immense greenhouse.

"Quit scurrying around like a rat! That's always been the only thing you're good at! The only makeshift strategy you have is snatching and running away! You're still the same damn cowardly Jack!"

"Ma- what'd you say?" Joker's look changed at Shadow's outburst. Jack was the name Joker had as a child. Being called that made old feelings suddenly rise up again. Feelings from when the two of them first met...

Joker flapped his cape over and refocused. "Hachi, go back ahead of me!"

"Eh? But..."

"It's fine, just go! I'll finish things with him." Shadow's provocation seemed to have spurred Joker. Joker took a card out of his pocket and glared at Shadow. The light in his eyes was just as piercing as Shadow's.

"Joker-san..."

"Bring it on!"

"With pleasure!" Shadow spun around his umbrella, fixed his grip, and jumped above Joker.

"From above!?"

Directly above Joker, Shadow pointed his umbrella straight down. "Have a taste of my new technique! 𝓑𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓗𝓸𝓵𝓮 𝓑𝓲𝓰 𝓑𝓪𝓷𝓰!"

"Wha- that's so lame!"

"Shut up!"

The umbrella was falling straight towards Joker. "...!" Sensing danger, Joker instantly moved aside. The next moment, Shadow's umbrella stabbed into the ground. There was a thunderous bang, and a crater formed around the area. It was as if a meteorite had fallen.

"What the heck, that's crazy dangerous...!"

"Bah, I missed!" Shadow switched his grip and flew towards Joker without a moment's delay. He brought his umbrella down on Joker like it was a sword. Joker quickly caught the umbrella with his card, twisted his wrist, and let Shadow's strike slip to his side. Joker had dodged the umbrella's violent swoop both swiftly and precisely. "Joker! Aren't you going to fight back at all!?"

"Ghh...!"

"Show me one of your ridiculous parlor tricks already!"

"'Parlor trick'...? Well then, let me show you!" Joker exclaimed, then leapt back and made an aerial 360. Keeping his stance, he fanned out five cards in front of his chest. "Straight Flash!" Joker yelled, and the Ace, Deuce, Trey, Cater, and Cinque of Hearts radiated a glaring light.

"Guh...!" The brilliant light bombarded Shadow's eyes. Joker's special move was to blind his opponent and make his move while they were down.

--But Shadow was already well aware. He had seen him use it countless times. He had already planned for the light. He instantly lowered the brim of his hat to block the light.

The bright light could indeed blind the enemy for some time. But the emanation of light was not just an attack, it was a weakness -- it revealed the location of the user. Which meant... wherever the light was coming from, there was Joker!

Shadow checked for where the light was originating and pointed his umbrella towards the exact spot. "Bloody Rain!" Shadow's red beam went straight up Straight Flash's stream of light and hit the middle dead on.

"...!" There was a reaction.

"Ha ha! How's that, Joker!" Shadow looked up as soon as the light faded. A hole had been left by Shadow's beam in the center of the five fanned cards... but Joker was not there. "!?"

Extraordinarily enough, the cards were hovering in midair. A tiny bubble of balloon gum stuck at the top was keeping them afloat. "What the...!"

"Hahaha, you were one step behind, Shadow!" Joker's laughter came from behind.

"Ghh...!" Shadow turned around to see Joker looking down at him from the greenhouse roof. The searchlights reflected off of the glass and illuminated him. Shadow returned the stare from the darkness and grinned. "You're not bad... It wouldn't be any fun otherwise!"

"Yeah, things are getting interesting!"

The clock tower bell rang. Bong! Bong! Bong!... The midnight bell rang through the darkness. Hachi watched the battle from a short distance. The two youths faced each other in silence. Light and shadow-- the shadow eternally pursues the light, and the light snares the shadow. The two of them fought to test their skills. Neither underestimated the other's strength, each trying to read two and three steps ahead and constantly pushing the battle to a higher standard. It was as if they were on a summit that only they could see...

The clock tower's bell ceased. "..." Joker sensed something. He pondered for a moment as if he had realized something odd.

But his thoughts were interrupted by Shadow's yelling. "Here I come, Joker!" Shadow set upon Joker once again.

Fwish! Something shone from within the greenhouse foliage, followed by something rushing down from above. "...!" Joker looked up and saw a thin mesh-like object blending in with the bleak clouds. "Khh!" He immediately spun around and forcefully kicked the stomach of the approaching Shadow.

"Gaah!" Shadow's body flew some meters away from Joker and hit the ground.

At the same moment, Joker's body was wrapped in a giant net from above. The cold and hard lattice constrained Joker. "...!" Bound by the steel net, Joker fell off the greenhouse and onto the ground. "Guh...!"

"Hah hah hah! I've finally got you, Phantom Thief Joker!" Oniyama ran towards them, his short legs clacking. This one was the real Oniyama.

"Joker-san!"

Joker saw Hachi dash towards him and shouted. "Stay back, Hachi!" Looking over, he could see a swarm of police officers following behind Oniyama, carrying a large barrel-like thing. That barrel seemed to be the launcher for the net.

"B-But..."

"Enough, Hachi, just run!" At that very moment, the police fired a net at Hachi. Fwish! A lattice flew over Hachi's eyes and spread to cover his body. But just then, an arm wrapped around Hachi's body and lifted him up. It was Shadow's.

Shadow jumped aside while holding Hachi and quickly lifted up his umbrella, which spun around and flew up like a helicopter. Having dodged the confines of the steel net, Hachi and Shadow rose into the night sky. "Joker-saaaaan!" Hachi's pitiful cry rang through the blackness.

On the ground, Oniyama had reached Joker's side. He laughed triumphantly as he looked down at Joker writhing in the net. "Gahahahahahah! Phantom Thief Joker, you've been apprehended. You are so! So! Soooo under arrest!" Oniyama let out a bellow of delight more boisterous than ever.

§§§

Outside of the courtyard, at the edge of a quiet bridge where there were no officers, black Image Gum burst apart with a pop. Spade, Queen, and Rose appeared from within. Spade had made the Image Gum turn dark and wrapped it over all of them so that they would blend into the night.

Rose landed on the grass and softly gazed up at Spade and Queen. Needless to say, this was the real Rose. "T-Thank you, for helping me..." Rose murmured.

"I was surprised, what with your powers suddenly wearing off."

Rose was startled by her reply. "You were watching the whole time?"

"Yeah, we were."

"..." Rose looked down.

"Do you know that detective -- Hayami Kyoutarou?" Queen had never met him herself, but she was aware of Hayami. She knew that he was lauded as a genius high school detective in Japan and that he had faced off against Joker multiple times. She couldn't imagine where Rose could have met him.

"..." Rose kept her eyes averted as if she was distressed.

"...I won't force you to talk if you don't want to. We all have our circumstances." Queen gently told Rose, supporting her. The two of them were about the same age, but Queen might have considered the rather demure Rose to be like a younger sister.

"Thank you..."

Something had probably happened with Hayami. Queen switched to Spade. "Spade, it looks like either Joker or Shadow got the Gilded Chrysanthemum. What now?" But there was no answer from Spade behind her. "Spade?"

She turned around to see Spade pressing his hand against his head, his body shaking so much that even standing looked to be agonizing. "What happened!?"

"Spade-san!"

Without replying to either of them, Spade let out a low moan and collapsed on the spot.