Cross Effects 3.0 - The Third Time's the Charm? Colosseum

[Umbra of Chaos]

As the tree descended PARIAH changed tactics. The tendrils withdrew and a single hand was raised to stop the tree. The ground cracked under the force as his tiny arm held up the oak but PARIAH was not phased in the slightest. Then his fist rammed into the darkened tree with enough force to send it flying back up even while in the knight's grip.

Taking advantage of the hopefully disturbed footing of his enemy PARIAH leaped at the knight with a fist aimed at the armored man's lower body.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Richard Maxwell

It was a chilly starry night, the moon shone with it's ever watchful eye as it illuminated a clear lake. Swans were swimming, fishes were swimming and the birds were swimming.  Or maybe they weren't and it was all a ruse meant to fool the uncanny eye. In the middle of this beautiful night, undead hunter and al around pain in the ass Richard was taking a peaceful stroll.

He didn't care much about the rain dripping on his face, in fact he found it quite pleasant. Of course, he didn't mind the cold chill either. Grinning merrily Richard savoured a tasty bag of pretzels without a care in the world. But sadly, all good things come to an end. A villain, lecherous vile being, bumped into him with the utmost disrespect, and caused his prized pretzels to fall down the bridge, the tasty snack now forever lost in the lake.

His face filled with utmost despair, Richard now faced a foul being, one who mercilessly murdered the pretzels he had payed with his hard earned money. Such a thing, he would never forgive.

This wanker...

So he waited, until they gained distance once more. Smiling, he closed his eyes before clicking his tongue and suddenly, the rain that befell both men accumulated, puddles growing steadily until they erupted towards the enemy. Countless razor sharp pikes made of water and ice shot towards him from all sides in an attempt to shred him to pieces and pierce him like swiss cheese, only less cheesy.

[Panda]

Adjutor is about to apologize to the man he's bumped into, realizing that the sound of something hitting the water was likely the bag of pretzels he saw the man eating earlier, when he sees massive amounts of mana collecting all around him, turning around to look at the man, a single look tells Adjutor everything he needs to know. The man's mana is influencing water all around Adjutor, likely to blast him to bits with sheer pressure.

"Armos," Adjutor says, as the metal flows rapidly out of his arms, covering him in the unbreakable armor as the countless projectiles break against him uselessly. With this momentary reprieve, Adjutor takes a moment to Reinforce himself while drawing Rahab and Tyrfing before dashing while Xarrest starts to focus on Concept: Shield, just in case.

[Kotomine_Rin]

For my pretzels... I will kill this monster!

As the opponent deflected the frozen pikes, Richard took a swift step back, just enough to gain a bit of distance against the dashing enemy. His speed was far greater than any man's, but even so, the hydromancer would not lose.

With a swift movement, his hand faced the pitch black sky.

Immediately, the water under the bridge moved under his command, serpentine movements were all it took to have the water beneath his enemy rise before him. A frozen shield blocked his opponent's path, multiple pillars of ice surrounded him as they pierced the wooden bridge. Richard's movements flowed not unlike a river.

With that, the pillars immediately melted to turn into water gushing at tremendous speeds, fast enough to smash a car trough.

"Explain to me how you're going to get away from this trouble.", Richard humoured before crossing his arms, the circling torrent now closing itself before his enemy.

[Panda]

...God damn, this guy really liked those pretzels, didn't he?

Now is not the time!

Already seeing his opponent's mana flowing before he even managed to get the spell off, Adjutor smirked as his opponent summoned ice of all things, to use against him.

"Two can play at that game, you petty fuck," he mutters as he prepares to throw Rahab. Then the hydromancer makes it even easier for Adjutor, turning all the ice that just wrecked part of the bridge into a torrent of water surrounding the Armored hunter.

"...Dumbass," Adjutor mutters, tossing Rahab into the water and watching as its will overwhelmed that which controlled the water as it froze the torrent solid before opening a door in it for Adjutor to dash through, now sheathing Tyrfing and drawing Laivatain the blade blazing to life as he pours mana into it.

"Firebrand, Laivatain," he starts to say, the sword raised over one shoulder, "BLAZE!"

With that, a torrent of fire erupts from the sword, but something different happens this time. Instead of bursting out in an inferno to burn everything in the general direction the blade was pointed in, the flames twist back around, feeding back into the sword as that inferno is concentrated along the length of the blade, going from its regular orange flames, to white-hot, then finally stopped as the blade starts to blaze with blue-hot flames, Adjutor still charging the hydromancer this whole time.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Bloody hell, this guy is a devil!

Without wasting a breath, Richard brought his arm forward, the icy remains of his prior attack shifted to form a tentacle-like arm that rushed behind Adjutor like a serpent.

It's speed shooting trough with surgical precision, the hand grabbed onto him, throwing him backwards with great force against the wooden bridge, the wooden structure crumbling further due to the impact.

Richard only needed to snap his finger once for dozens of frozen blades to come forth, ice floating around Richard as he pointed at his enemy. Suddenly, the ice burst forth, deadly blades with the intention to skewer him.

[Panda]

Adjutor's charge was interrupted when he was yanked back and slammed back onto the bridge.

Ow...

Then more ice projectiles bounced uselessly off the armor.

...Okay, that's it, fuck this shit.

With that Rahab's presence left the hand and slipped into the water, already going to work freezing the water under the bridge and making it its own.

With that, Adjutor sits up and stares down the massive hand for a moment before thrusting Laivatain, still blazing a bright blue, towards the massive ice hand. A tightly concentrated beam of fire shot forth, drilling its way in at about half-way down the arm, the ice melting into water and boiling so quickly it looks as if the ice is turning into steam, Adjutor braces himself just in time for-

The arm explodes as the pressure inside from the steam exceeds what the ice can handle, Adjutor dodging the debris as he charges forward again, notably slower than before.

[Kotomine_Rin]

"Hey, that was rude you wanker. I was just trying to give you a hand there.", Richard humoured as his opponent rushed at him. Unmoving, he did not attack or react, not once did he budge even as the blade was but an inch away from piercing his body.

Instead, Richard grinned, the rainwater danced before both with incredible speed, a single droplet flying fast enough to pierce trough flesh. Immediately, the water accumulated to form a drill that shot at the enemy's body, pummelling him upwards like a cannonball, his armour still unbroken.

"Heh, take this!", he yelled merrily as he swung his arm forward, a wave of highly concentrated forward shot forward, fast enough to easily cut trough metal. The violent impact shot Adjutor further back, but even so, the armour was still intact.

"Woooooooah, that's pretty handy...", Richard joyfully declared, his hand held forward as if to imitate binoculars.

[Panda]

The first drill, coming up from below, was easy enough to dodge. The second bit, the water coming in fast enough to blast him back, wasn't nearly as easy to deal with. Adjutor found himself being blasted back once more, landing heavily and not without some frustration.

Properly annoyed now, Adjutor took a moment to fix up any internal bleeding that might have been caused by those impacts with Tyrfing while he surged mana into Valmanway, carefully watching the hydromancer's mana flow as he did so. Then he smirked behind the armor.

A massive wyrm made entirely of ice bursts from the underneath the bridge, smashing it to splinters as it bursts through underneath the Hydromancer before rising up and slamming back down in an attempt to crush the fool.

[Kaze]

The earth shattered as the weaponized tree crashed down on the devil child, but Lancelot instinctively knew that something wasn't right. The angle was wrong, the tree trunk was too far up to have squished the boy flat as intended. Without momentum on his side, it would be disadvantageous to continue applying force on the oak.

The dark knight had only partway let go of the tree when, with a sharp crack, it came flying back at him. The severed trunk slammed into his right arm and shoulder as it flew by, knocking him off balance. The abomination, this "PARIAH", capitalized on this, rushing in to attack a man's most vulnerable spot. Lancelot's body reacted before his mind did, and in an instant Arondight, the Unfading Light of the Lake, materialized in hand, pointed straight down with the flat of the blade facing the demon child, his free hand bracing against the flat side of the sword that faced him even before regaining his footing.

The monstrosity's blow struck the magically constructed Noble Phantasm instead of the former Knight of the Lake's armored crotch. His muscles screamed in protest as his arms were forced back towards him, the sheer force behind the blow overwhelming even his now-super empowered strength. His entire body was pushed away, armored boots skidding across the grass as he desperately maintained his balance. His mind desperately raced for a strategy as he came to a halt.

A strange sound caught Lancelot's attention, a cross between a whistle and the swish of parting air. He turned his head to find the source of the noise just in time to see something slam into the ground from above right next to him with earth shaking force. The object - an unnatural, metallic pod of sorts - promptly slid open to reveal what the berserker recognized as two modern firearms. He didn't even hesitate before de-materializing his corrupted sword and grabbing them both, one in each hand.

Heckler & Kosh 21, a powerful machine gun with a rapid rate of fire. FN SCAR-L, an automatic rifle equipped with a scope. The understanding of these weapons and the skills required to use them flooded Lancelot's mind as red lines of prana invaded and empowered the weapons, his Knight of Honor ability turning them into his own personal Noble Phantasms. Neither of these weapons were intended for one-handed use, but he was no ordinary human, and the weapons were no longer ordinary guns.

The black knight brought both weapons to bear on "PARIAH", pulled back the triggers, and the monstrosity was baptized in a sea of glowing red projectiles. Lancelot backed away while continuing to pour streams of supernatural bullets from his weapons, maintaining as much distance as possible. Fortunately reloading was not a concern. While the guns-turned-Noble Phantasm did not have unlimited ammunition, replacing their magazines would not be required.

[SINIB]

Mu-12 Vs Vanguard and Michael: Rebel 1, Action!

Mu hovered in the air in front of the closed cauldron coldly looking down at the two fighters arrayed in front of her with her emotionless blue eyes.

"Target's threat level is determined to be SS. Activate termination protocols." Her mechanical voice resonated through the cavernous room. She summoned several steins around her, each one spraying a large volley of lasers at her opponents. Most of them were focused on the enormous suit of armor with the glowing orb, but one was aimed at the man standing further away with the staff. As soon as the volley was released, she sent them flying towards their targets, intending to use the lasers to prevent them from dodging her or face the full brunt of lasers.

[Kotomine_Rin]

As soon as he saw the lasers lunging at him, Vanguard held his hands forward in a twisting motion. Blinding light plighting the area, energy seeped trough the living armour as he manifested his weapon, a mighty halbers spinning in a circling motion. A shield of powerful energy manifested itself, the beams slightly pushing the warrior back as the shield fought the lasers until it gave in.

As soon as the shield faltered, the warrior wasted no time, waving his blade masterfully, the halberd seemed to take a life of it's own as it mowed trough the steiners. Explosions hitting his metal body, he was knocked back one step further.

"Mph, so you seek death? Very well, this wretched place will be your grave.", Vanguard spoke coldly as powerful energy flowed trough his weapon. Swinging it once, numerous bolts of lightning tangled together as they charged towards the woman, each meant to tear trough her.

[Panda]

Well now, this is an interesting situation.

The Enhancement is already flowing through the immortal as the tiny drones swarm outwards, time seeming to slow down to a crawl as most of them seem to point towards the massive suit of armor standing off to the side, with just one of them turning its attentions towards him.

...Fuck. Drones.

Michael readies himself as the drone seems to take aim before unleashing a volley of lasers.

Adjusting his mental firing path for the drones to a cone, Michael dashes out of the firing cone altogether, charging the drone in a zigzag pattern as it flies in towards him, making his path as unpredictable as he can before bringing the staff around, letting his hands slide to the end of the staff to extend his reach to bat the drone away. In the back of his mind, he keeps the a mental note of the position of that drone, continuing to make his way towards the being that spawned the drones.

[SINIB]

Mu-12

As soon as the armor threw up the shield Mu detonated all the active steins, including the one the other man had batted to the ground and jumped up further into the air. As soon as she saw Vanguard swing his great Halberd and release great arcs of lightning from within she summoned up a large cluster of steins in a dome around him, each one releasing a dense blue blast of energy capable of punching a hole through a thick layer of armor after charging up for a moment. Just before the lightning reached her, the swords that had until then been floating in a circular pattern behind her rematerialized in front of her crossed into the form of a shield, taking the brunt of the blast for her.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Numerous bodies surrounded Vanguard, circled by a dome meant to shoot him down to pieces and end him. Instinctively, the warrior focused his inner energy, preparing himself. He didn't run, or rather, couldn't. Every fraction of a second counted, he knew well that if he was to move, he would be annihalated.

A tearing wave of lightning erupted from Vanguard's metal weapon, his hand moving in a Crescent motion, many of the floating steins suddenly exploding as they were shot down by bolts of lightning crawling in every direction. Vangurd's core, his eye, glowed in a ghastly pale blue.

But it wasn't enough. While none of his limbs or core were damaged, his chest, back and shoulders were shot down by the piercing beams, slight cracks forming on his armored body. It was clear now that he was fighting a summoner of sorts, these bodies she controlled would be quite lethal if he was not careful. And she now had the higher ground, he could not reach her with his blade or penetrate her defense with his lightning.

But...

If I cannot reach you, I shall bring you down.

With that, Vanguard dashed out of the way, intending to keep out from the eventual blasts his opponent could conjure. With a clean and swift motion, the warrior waved his halberd towards his enemy, screeching bolts of lightning shooting as they tore trough the air with a screeching sound. And yet, none of the bolts hit her, why would they? Despite appearances, she was not the target of the blow.

The ceiling, the one thing standing above the girl, had been hit by the bolts, the damage was enough to send numerous cracks running up the structure and crumble down the opponent.

At the same time, Vanguard readied himself for another strike from below, wether the wave of lightning he was conjuring hit her or wether the rock and metal from above crushed her, she would at the very least be harmed in some way, he thought.