Payn's in Town [Open]

[prythian]

"I don't have many qualms." Malthus replied. "I lived as a thief for a long time, homeless. I had to be ready to do what needed to be done." But Payn's words had struck him harder than his apparent casual manner would reveal.

Was he really all that different from who he had used to be? He shook it off.

"Considering you gave those other villagers the cold shoulder, I'm surprised you care." He said. "I think this village would be safer without you here, and that's why I'm fighting. And you're hurting them also, even if you don't realize it. But an explanation on economics would be wasted on you." Having stolen himself, he knew it to be true.

"Come on, let's get down to fighting already."

[NiNeLiVeS]

"..." Payn said, lifting an eyebrow.

Or would have if, he had, y'know, an intact eyebrow. As it was one of his eyes widened. Really, telling a demon a sob-story about one's youth was fairly useless. One had not lived a youth until that youth was in the Underworld.

"They are making these delicious-" he turned to the bakers who bowed hurriedly and whispered something, Payn nodded and continued, "'donut'-things... of course I care."

One might accuse Payn of being rather civilized for a barbaric demon with limited intellect and a tendency to stare at the sun until he was blind. Payn would scoff: really, he was practically a newborn back then. He hadn't really understood mortal thoughts.

"And..." the picture of a little nymph popped into his head unbidden, "I am forced to ask. It is not the first time someone to whom I owed a boon has suffered."

[prythian]

"I'm not going to hurt them. That's not what I'm here for." Malthus explained. "That's why I'm waiting for you to come out here rather than attacking you now. If you come out here, I don't have to worry about accidentally hitting them." He was growing more exasperated. Could anyone really be so stupid as to do terrible, evil things and yet act like this?

Apparently so.

[NiNeLiVeS]

"What are you here for?" Payn asked, ignoring the exasperation on the hero's face. He licked his fingers: the sugary sweetness was annoyingly packaged on both glaze and these little sprinkly things that got everywhere. Not that he'd truly complain - the taste and texture were divine - but it was messy.

"For justice? For goodness? For them? For yourself?"

[prythian]

"..."

Why WAS he here? He didn't have a ready made answer. Did he genuinely care about the welfare of this town? Or was he just trying to prove to himself that he could be a better person than he had been?

...He didn't simply crave the glory and attention... did he?

"...Wait a second. I don't have to answer to you." Malthus said, the realization hitting him. He'd nearly been suckered into having a casual conversation with a monster about his motivations. What right had he?

"Enough talk." The knives flashed out into his hands. "It's time to move on."

[NiNeLiVeS]

"Ah yes, I suppose it is." Payn said regretfully as he got up to his full height. Warped flesh shimmered in the half-darkness of the building: he was a dead man walking. Literally.

He plunked a handful of munny down onto his seat.

After a moment of thought he plunked down more.

"For your new... part of the building," he explained as the entire wall that he was facing exploded outwards in a hail of brick and stone, spikes leaping from the ground to impale the would-be hero.

A moment later and a flash of lightning and fire followed.

________________

[hp=90/90]

Stone Spike Lv3: 6/7 uses left
Fire Lv3
Lightning Lv3

Turn 4

[prythian]

Malthus jumped in shock and surprise. Literally.

He had a keen sense of when and how to react, and the moment the wall had even moved, he'd been jumping, but with such an immediate reaction, he hadn't had time to aim his jump properly, just barely landing on the end of the building's roof. He wobbled back and forth a bit, windmilling his arms, and fell forward onto the hard stone.

He had to come up with a better plan than the one he had. This thing was MONSTROUS, and he didn't know if he could handle it all by himself. This magic was ridiculously powerful! If he had any hope of surviving future matches with beings like this, he had better get some magic of his own.

...This wasn't the time to think about whether or not he WOULD survive this match. Malthus tossed 3 knives into the air, tucking the remaining ones away so that he could access them easily. No point in trying any tactics with the knives until his bracelet recharged. It was even more annoying that the creature hadn't left the shop yet... he couldn't safely attack it!

How annoying to be held to his word at a time like this. Fortunately, with the mess that had happened under those attacks, and the fact that he was on the roof of the bakery and crouching down at that, he had somewhat of an element of surprise; the creature likely had not been able to see his jump and would not know he was waiting up here.

[hp=90/98]

[NiNeLiVeS]

"Disappeared?" Payn wondered as he walked forwards. The considerable rubble and dust that had been raised by the attack had cleared after the initial volley and now all that was left was the unnatural stone protrusions. Payn frowned.

He had indulged in the talk to make sure that the child-hero would stay and fight. It had been a terribly long time since he had a good old massacre.

After all that and it had fled?

Harrumpf.

Something close to annoyance colored his features as he forced space to move and warped fifty feet down the street. "OI. HERO." He yelled from the town plaza. Its residents had already fled some time ago. He looked around but somehow missed the guy standing on the rooftops. "WEREN'T YOU GONNA FIGHT?"

_____________

Teleport 4/5 uses left

[hp=90/90]

Turn 5

[prythian]

One of the knives came down, thunking in the rubble in front of the shop. Malthus swore softly under his breath. He hadn't counted on the damn thing being able to move like that. What was that, sort some of burst of speed so fast he couldn't see it? Too late to worry about it. All he could do was make the best of the situation, and hopefully get the monster back over here. Ah well, time to make the most of what he could do.

Four knives at Payn while he was looking in the other direction, and a quick hop down into the rubble to grab the other knife that had landed. Malthus tensed up, preparing to move as soon as he saw a motion that looked like an attack from him.

[hp=90/98]

((4 *2)

[NiNeLiVeS]

Bee stings. Two thunked solidly into his back while another only dealt a glancing blow but stuck in his arm and the last missed entirely. At this sort of range it could not be easy to make such attacks. Both kidneys would have been skewered had he been a living man.

But Payn was a demon.

A demon was essence and ether and madness. You had to destroy it completely in order for it to die.

"Pinpricks," he muttered to himself as he slid the knives out of his back and the one in his arm and pocketed them. Who knew what spellcasters might do with demon blood.

A whispered word and the ground beneath the man's legs froze solid in a forty foot bloom, creeping up the sides of the building and creating an unnatural chill. It would only last an instant but few in this world were used to stepping on ice.

Immediately above a lightning storm brewed and sent slivers of lightning careening into various directions, skewering anything within fifteen feet of the storm.

A moment later and an expanding globe of dark energy engulfed the front of the building.

Too much? Not enough?

He'd probably have to drop off more munny with the sweet makers regardless.


_____________

[hp=84/90]

Ice Lv3 (using it to freeze the ground as per spell description)
Lightning Lv 3 (8 dmg)
Dark Burst Lv3 5/6 uses left (8 dmg)

Turn 6

[prythian]

What-

Malthus only had time to start this thought once the ice spread and he struggled to keep his balance right before-

PAIN. Electricity coursing through his veins and frying his nerves. Not too long after that a familiar pain, both for his body and his heart, hit, the same darkness that had struck him before from his other opponent. He would've screamed if he hadn't been paralyzed with the agony.

Meanwhile, the two other blades he'd thrown into the air landed on the ground, one on either side of him. He felt to his knees, hands grasping for them and grabbing them as if for comfort. "Is..." He hissed, standing back up on the frozen ground and tucking away the knives. "IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?" He yelled down at Payn, white clothes showing scorch marks in several places and looking somewhat ragged.

He doubted even a monster like this could match him in stubbornness.

[hp=90/98]

((Advanced Mantra))

[NiNeLiVeS]

"Hooo." Payn said, trying not to let the battlefield lust cloud his senses. If he went on a rampage in a populated place like this it would resemble a smoking crater. And that would be unacceptable since there would be no more sweets and as Perdition had pointed out several times, any plan that involved less sweets usually involved more heroes chasing after them.

Not that that was a strictly tried and true rule but hey. It was as good as any.

"We should probably leave before everything burns," he said, trying to suppress a bout of mad laughter. An attack of that magnitude had wiped out an entire bandit camp, once. And here this child was, with hardly a scorch mark! This would be worth it... yes. This would be worth it.

He flickered again, vanishing towards the entrance of the town.

_____________

[hp=84/90]

Teleport 3/5 uses left

[prythian]

Malthus resisted the urge to scream again. The pain from that last attack... if it hadn't been for his Advanced Mantra, he would have lost a lot of energy and not been able to ignore at as much. And this creature had just done it without so much as blinking...! Not to mention his plan... it'd involved the element of surprise from... no, that wasn't important now. He'd gotten the monster out of the town. And he was already coming up with new plans to show just how stubborn and powerful he could be.

He moved forwards, jumping to the roofs and wincing as he landed, but quickly learning to adapt to the pain and move on, rushing towards where Payn had gone.

[hp=90/98]

[NiNeLiVeS]

"Come on," Payn encouraged impatiently as he walked away from the town. It was no small effort to leap from rooftop to rooftop after sustaining an attack like that but Payn wasn't much bothered by such trivial details as physics and human constitution. If you were a hero you ignored things like that. "Come on, come on, come on."

He had been a demon of the physical arts before he had been... changed and turned into this wretched 'spellslinger.'

But this hero, he was the type to stand and fight, yes? A true rought and tough 'em, one educated by the hard knocks of street life. You had to be taught young in order to tough through spells like that. He wished briefly that he could switch back to his true form and do battle that way - so much more appropriate than this feckless spellcasting.

In deference to that fact he'd allow the child time to approach the hundred foot gap between them.

"Let us see what the heroes of this world are made of."

_____________

[hp=84/90]

Turn 8[/blockquote]

[prythian]

Malthus landed a respectful 40 foot distance away on the ground. "I will fight... for this world." He panted for breath. "It may not be mine... but that doesn't change a thing. Come on, ugly!" Almost seeming fully recovered from the pain before, Malthus's determination surged to the forefront as Burning Horizon appeared in his hand. His other hand did a quick flicker sending four more knives at Payn. "I won't give up!"

[hp=90/98]