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"Hehe, nice little jig."
As the necromancer moved forward, she couldn't help but notice the rugged man slowly bleeding out not too far from the doorway. Normally she'd be tempted to take a moment or two to examine them, but.... something about that bard's presence made it just oh so slightly easier to pry her attention off him for long enough to actually try and aim.
"Now... let's send you to join your friends~"

13,13 Attack Restless Corpse F!

Raguel vs Unequivocal Soul

Caridin strutted into arena as the doors closed behind him, completely unconcerned by the unnatural darkness that had engulfed them. A Scalpel. He had remembered it well over this last week. It had proven somewhat... difficult to stop functioning entirely on reflex and instinct, but he felt he had made at least a little progress. More than he had when he faced off against Arcturus, at least. Perhaps that was precisely what he'd needed, to be put into a situation where victory was impossible by just blindly charging in... a situation where he had to emulate a scalpel to have any hope. A situation not unlike now, honestly.
    He already knew charging blindly into this darkness was a terrible idea. But, even though He might not be able to see his opponent, the same was true for his opponent being blind here as well... presumably. And operating under that assumption, while its true his attacks might give him away... that wouldn't matter so long as he kept on the move, and made sure to do so in erratic fashi-
...
...
...
"What in the actual feck?" He'd just now noticed, as he'd reached to retrieve his hilt... his hand, his arm, they were.... completely visible. Not as if he was glowing, he never really glowed much unless his spark's charge got going. No, this was as if... he were standing out in the open in some random place illuminated by Tempest' ambient light, rather than in an artificially darkened arena. He looked down at the rest of his mech, and lo and behold...

The rest of it was fully visible too.

"Ah sheista, ye've gotta be fecking kidding me," he sighed under his breath, "How... why? Ah forget it. Fine, Stealth is outta the question then. New plan..."

Not letting himself get hung up on this very massive disadvantage, he adopted a tight Fool's Guard. Immediately, Judgement flared to life with the crackling heat and intensity of barely contained laser, and just as quickly, the radiance given off by said barely contained laser dimmed immensely, to the point it was barely stronger than a flickering candle flame. Barely a second later, Caridin performed a swift upwards stroke, engulfing Judgement in renewed, destructive radiance that immediately leapt off the blade in the form of a small sphere that propelled itself high over the arena.
     And then, the sphere burst into countless falling motes of light covering the whole arena, each one giving off a massive amount of light compared to when the sphere that'd spawned them had formed. This was, of course, only thanks to him sacrificing most of their destructive potential in exchange for this amplified illumination. The lad had no illusions of trying to dispel this unnatural darkness outright though, he simply wanted to create something to easily reflect off of his opponent.

And Judgement's light was already dimming again in preparation for it.

Caridin
Caridin sat there in silence as he listened to the rest of the tale. And then for a few moments after it was over, lost in thought. Arcturus had... just pointed out something what no other person he encountered thus far ever had. Something Caridin himself had honestly not stopped to think of. Even Erikur had simply sent him off without pointing out the flaw in his end goals, or lack thereof, like this. Though, knowing his old mentor, chances were the Smiling Demon had fully intended Caridin to encounter this very question on his own, and find the answer to it on his own too.
    And it was... a damn good question, as he came to realize. He had feck all idea of what he intended to do after, in some hypothetical scenario, he succeeded in his nebulous goal of tearing down this cruel cycle of the strong exploiting the weak, man being a wolf to man. Of what he'd do if he did achieve godhood, achieve the power to complete his crusade and annihilate his enemies as his heart so yearned to. He could very well go out of his way to kill every villain who reared their ugly head, but... would any of that matter if the vacuum their deaths created would only serve as the perfect petri-dish for new, potentially worse villains to spawn and prosper from? A large part of him, the part which had birthed his spark for this very purpose in the first place, screamed that yes, it would matter in the end. That every scumbag consumed by his light was one less to breath cold misery and shit hot suffering into this world. That regardless how many he had to strike down, that he could keep going until the end of time, if that was what it took to purge their ilk from the planes of tempest.

In fact, it retorted, perhaps death was too kind a fate for th-

"Shut the feck up...fecking shut up!" He shouted internally, eyes burning bright gold as he forcibly silenced the rage churning within him. This... this was precisely what Arcturus had meant, wasn't it? This.... hatred that spurred him on towards endless destruction, that would see him simply tear down one cruel cycle to replace it with his own. He knew it was. And yet that same hatred, that same fury, had been the very things which pushed him this far to begin with. The very things that had convinced him to get back on his feet after every defeat, every set back, and push forward with renewed zeal and intensity. Just as his mysterious observer had taunted him, he was a blunt instrument by his very nature, and that was simultaneously his greatest asset and his greatest liability. The hatred made him stronger, but it also rendered him blind to what was not immediately in front of him.  That... that had been real the point of that message. Just as it was the point of what Arcturus was trying to tell him now. That he would reap what he sowed if he all he dedicated himself towards was destruction... if he allowed destruction to use him as a tool, instead of the other way around.
     "Find someone to protect..." he said, eyes slowly fading to their normal green, "or somethin' to build. I... don't even know where to begin, to tell the fecking truth. But... I see what yer trying to tell me all the same. Ye've given me something to think about that no one else ever has."

   
   

"I...may need to practice my magic a little more. You're making me jealous, Anumita."

"Hehe, Thank you! Don't be too hard on yourself though, my spells have always tended to... critically surge more than usual when I'm at my best. This tome is a lot easier to manage than what I normally carry too, so I'm sure that's also factoring in."

Anumita had poked her head around the corner just in time to see the archaeologist being carved up by the walking dead.
Hmmm... typical ghoul specimen, claws don't seem to be envenomed. A bit stronger than usual from the looks of how badly that hurt. Though, that's probably just because he's just wearing clothes. Wonder how durable it is....

Unfurling a black tome from her robes, she rushed forward and raised her hand at the ghoul, unleashing a tendril of concentrated darkness...

Anumita move to 6-16, Attacks the Ghoul

Revenant's Workshop
"Yup, that's likely a factor as well," Revenant nodded, "During Nil, we barely had any information about each other besides our general build types, and whatever we could scrounge up from talking with each other. The Mossnet has made in depth details about someone's build and style more accessible than ever though; hell most, if not all of you, have at least some video presence out there from your past matches. You could probably fill a small harddrive with video files from Raguel and Wandering Dragon here alone."

Revenant's Workshop
"Yeh, I suppose you could say that," Revenant said as the apparatus once again lowered from the ceiling. Much as it had with Maddie, it pierced Tarmo just to the lower left of his sternum, giving him a quick prick before it phased into his dreamspace. "Well... not exactly frustrated, just annoyed. When they asked me to be the presiding mechanic for this trial, Asmo and I didn't know they were going to disallow modifications till after we arrived. Takes out half the fun of being a mechanic, ya know? But eh... I'm here now, and it is what it is. Plus, I... get why they want you lot to go through this completely static in terms of build."
    He chuckled as he pulled up Tarmo's readouts, mentally noting the Wandering Dragon's electrical capabilities. "Heh, electric blasts eh? That brings me back. During the Nil tourney, a lot of us ended up altering things as the matches progressed. Trying to patch up holes made apparent in our builds. Me and Astra were easily the biggest offenders- I was trying to better optimize my defenses and range, and Astra outright changed his whole build after I left. I have the sneaking suspicion our shenanigans back then might have factored in to why they banned modding for you all. Trying to keep things simple, more leveled. Plus it forces all of you to make the most of what you're currently stuck with, which might end up making growth a lot faster for those of you who manage it."