Nikolai Geanovof's Story

It was a heated battle as Ivy continued and struggled on against the odds, trying her absolute best not to reveal any signs of weakness to her current opponent and to whomever else was watching beyond the magical realm they were imprisoned in- not that it mattered what they thought. A slight smile curled it's way onto her face as she managed to dodge yet another attack from Nikolai although her wound was intensifying in pain. Under logical reasoning, there was no way Ivy could win although the biggest concern of all that she should have been focusing on was if she would at the very least survive. The only things that kept her going was a mix of stubbornness and having a reason to live. Before the tournament, she had fought for nothing but herself but now she had people to call friends, people to rely on, people she was willing to die for. Willow was still nowhere in sight leading her to think; I have to live.. I have to find her and next time, I'm not letting go! She gritted her teeth as her blade aiming for Nikolai's face missed it's target with the man crouching in good timing. Sadly, it was not just serving as a dodge. Ivy coughed up blood just as his shoe connected with her body. Which part of her body? She didn't even know with the poison in effect clouding up her senses. All she could feel was the force, the impact of the kick and how her body was hurling backwards.

I can't die..
..it doesn't end here!

Grasping her sword as tightly as she could while she tumbled in mid-air...in those few decisive seconds, she lowered her sword so the tip reached for the ground, desperately scratching along the ground in an attempt to stop hurling, swing around with her acrobatics practice and get back in gear but the pain was too much to bear and her sword failed to strike the ground deep enough to reach a halt. "Ugh.." The poison was working. She felt weak, barely breathing and her grasp gave way to the feeling, her sword released and abandoned from her hand as she slid a few more metres against the ground on her back in defeat. She coughed up more blood with a smile on her face thinking she had just managed to escape death as she had numerous times before. Ivy took her time, trying to appreciate that she was still alive and looking up above her as the barrier shined brightly but it was then her face became pale at the truth. She had hit the barrier, even just a little. The barrier in place had just continued on from the ground through her forehead. Is it broken? She thought with a glimpse of hope but slowly the magic took it's toll. The ends of her hair that had gone through the barrier were changing to the tips of her head onwards, molecules of Ivy changing into a beautiful display of little silver stars. It was hard to believe that something so beautiful was the death of her. "Well would you look at that.. be a good boy Cane." Ivy managed to say with a smile on her face before the mouth she used to speak had also been separated, joining the rest of the little stars along with her body. Soon enough, nothing of Ivy was left but a group of little stars distancing themselves from another as a strong gust of wind identical to the ones from the start of the round blew. Now nothing, not even the stars were left as the wind claimed her and her life.



"Congratulations, looks like we have three able combatants. Shame there are no females anymore.." The sorcerer talked casually, his voice showing no remorse as the barrier in place disappeared at the click of his fingers. The platform lowered downwards slowly so it rejoined the part of the white ground it had separated from. Once again, white nothingness was all that could be seen besides the combatants themselves. The marks of the platform's separation was also neatly sewing itself back into place.
"I'll give you some time to take care of any injuries you may have suffered or to rest if you want before the next round.. make good use of this time." he wagged his finger at the crystal ball despite the combatants being unable to see him before sitting back in his chair, entwining his fingers wondering who would be the next to go.

Nikolai watched impassively as Ivy began to...dissolve. The barrier appeared to work true to the sorcerer's word. As he watched, he broke the shaft of the damned arrow stuck in his side and tossed it at her feet, she could take it with her into the great beyond. It was unfortunate though, she was taking his dagger with her as well. As Ivy continued to disintegrate, he turned back to his competition, breaking off the arrow shaft and tossing it to the side. Cane seemed to be taking this turn of events in a predictably rough fashion. He gave his former...friend time, his last few seconds with that foolish girl.

In the meantime, he reached back and pulled Cane's senbon from his back, it hurt, but it was hardly a crippling injury. He then used the pointed senbon to remove the arrowhead still lodged in him, a process which hurt significantly more. Once that was done, he tossed both objects aside and set about putting a light dressing on his side to stem the blood flow.

"If you wanted me here I am... I will end this..."

Shaking his head, Nikolai replied, "You know I never wanted this, Cane. Her death was entirely preventable, all you had to do was leave well enough alone. Hell you could have even joined me, it could have been like old times. But you forced my hand. You had to know that this would be the result, that this would happen if you involved her in our business. And now," he paused. "Now neither of us wins."

He knew Cane, knew what would happen now. Whatever options had been on the table, they were gone. It would seem that the only options he had left were to end Cane, or be ended by him.

He waited for the tournament to continue on, readying himself for a fight with Cane and Bryden.

Bryden turned his gaze quickly as he heard something from a male voice - Nickolai's probably - that sounded something like You will die like all the rest. Bryden wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but he furrowed his eyes and turned his body to see what was going on, and stopped. All he saw was Nickolai's extended foot from a kick, and the girl Ivy struggling desperately with her sword to stop herself from touching the barrier. His eyes widened as he watched her simply... Bryden couldn't even tell what she was doing, it was so weird. Her body was slowly disappearing, starting at the point of contact with the barrier, and slowly making its way across her body. Bryden just stood their, his arms resting at his sides, an incredulous look struck across his face. Is this what the others called... disintegration?! It was truly horrifying to Bryden, that some invisible thing could slowly eat away at your body until there was literally nothing left: like the stories he had heard of these parasitic insects called 'war-ants' that would eat anything in their little path.

Bryden heard a clang as Cane's sword plummeted to the ground, the man looking destroyed in his emotions. Bryden swung his head over to inspect a little more, since Cane looked visably taken out by the invisble force known as 'love' or emotion, whatever you wanted to call it. Bryden had no intention of ever moving from that point, but the startling words of the Sorceror spooked him enough to make him jump back a step: Midnight mewed quite loudly in protest to the unexpected voice. Congratulations, looks like we have three able combatants. Shame there are no females anymore.. I'll give you some time to take care of any injuries you may have suffered or to rest if you want before the next round.. make good use of this time. It took a few seconds for Bryden to really understand the situation - he was up against two others that he knew virtually nothing about (except that Nickolai was pretty damn good with medicinal and poison stuff) and they probably considered him the inferior - the reason Bryden deduced that was because he had done virtually nothing this entire tournament. If he looked back really hard, he had just really been there, with nothing to really say that he did. It annoyed him to no end that he really could be inferior to both of them since he had yet to display anything.

Since Bryden hadn't suffered any real wounds, he sat down right where he was, crossing his legs as he did. Without wasting a second, he grabbed daggers and inspected them. When he made sure there were no knicks or bluntness in them, he moved onto his claymore, appearing completely preoccupied with himself as he listened to the impending conversation between Cane and Nickolai. Cane was obviously extremely pissed off at Nickolai, and spoke with the same coldness that Bryden remembered his voice always sounding. Nickolai seemed completely indifferent, talking about how her death was preventable, and that neither of them won now. Bryden had no clue what they were going on about, and frankly did not care: they had to deal with their own problems, as was how the world went. However, dragging Bryden into their problems would then make their problems his, and he really did not want to get between a grieving man and a complete jerk. Let the two of them fight it out, and then take out the winner: simple as that.

That thought gave Bryden a smirk as he started sharpening his blade with the whetstone he carried as Midnight purred softly in his pouch.

Meanwhile in Hell..

"Anybody home?"




Meanwhile in Purgatory..

Nikolai's attention was drawn to the strange fluttering sound, now expecting to encounter some sort of monster or aberration of the sorcerer's choosing. What dropped down on the platform in front of him still managed to surprise him. This thing was strange even for the sorcerer. Wings, leather, a scythe, ancient runes...what was this strange woman? And then with her sing-song, childlike voice and strange, hyperactive mannerisms as she talked about him being human. With the way she was looking at him, it was pretty clear she wasn't paying him a complement by calling him a human. Likely she was some sort of strange and twisted creature that enjoyed preying on humans. However, she was also intelligent enough to hold conversations, one-sided though they seemed to be. So was she an enemy to be defeated or an inhabitant with which to interact and find the secrets hidden in this place?

When the creature asked his name he attempted to respond, however she continued on before he had the chance. Dinner...no he definitely wasn't going to let that happen. His hand was on his tanto, drawing it out of its sheathe as the next words came from behind him and the scythe pressed against his neck. Ah, so she was a demon then. That certainly explained a lot.

It seemed this...demon was anything but a child, that was merely a guise she, assuming the demon couldn't change form as easily as her voice, used on her prey. There were numerous legends of demons in the world Nikolai had apparently left behind, but there were scant few facts, and he had left the study of such things to the religious, so he was hardly an expert. It seemed he would just have to play this by ear. Though already he could tell that he wasn't supposed to fight this creature, at least not conventionally as she was so much faster than 'mere mortals' like himself it would likely be an exercise in futility. That meant that she probably had the information he needed, he just needed to figure out how to prolong his life beyond the next few seconds. He chose his next words very carefully, not wanting to end up as a demon's dinner. The way she had changed to an older, stronger voice when she announced her name and title made it seem as though she took at least some pride in who or what she was, so he decided to try and play off of that.

"Kill me?" His hand remained on his tanto, however he did not move to draw it any further. "I must say that would be a waste of all I could do to help a demon of destruction. And it seems you do need my help as I have never actually heard of one as powerful as you. You are powerful, aren't you? Pardon my insolence, but it seems you really aren't as relevant in the mortal world as you could be. Demon of destruction indeed, no one has gone to war, or fought, killed, or destroyed in the name of 'Abadina the Demon of Destruction' that I can remember. And I am an authority on such matters. How about you lower your blade and instead of talking about how I could be tonight's dinner we discuss how I can help you get dinner for a long time to come?"

His bit delivered, Nikolai was left to await the demon's response. He truly had no idea how she would react, though he remained at the ready. With his hand still on his blade, he stood ready to draw in an instant, not shaking or showing any signs of fear, though he knew if the demon wanted to kill him he likely wouldn't have a chance to draw his blade any farther. What an interesting encounter this was. In an instant he now stood on the brink of death, but in that same instant he had met a creature who's very existence opened an entire world of new opportunities to acquire and advance his power. All he had to do was survive.

“Yesss!” The demon's giggle was rather disconcerting, however she didn't kill Nikolai letting him finish his speech before continuing to not kill him which was good. Finally she lowered her scythe and backed off. He wasn't dead, but he was still in a precarious position. As the situation had somewhat de-escalated, he released his hold on his tanto and let it slide back down into its sheathe as he turned to face her, hands at his sides. When he was facing the strange and dangerous woman again, her eyes flashed at him and he got the distinct impression she was looking him in the eyes, even though his mask. Meeting this stare evenly, he felt as though she was looking through him. This demon was a...bothersome creature to be sure. He really had trouble getting a bead on her.

“Hmphhh I may have a better use for you yet!” Well that was gracious of her...now it seemed he would be making a deal with a demon. A risky proposition at best, but if it would get him his power then he would do it. “But I do need good entertainment, and I mean GOOD entertainment. That’s all I want, simple!” Abadina made her scythe vanish and began acting demure, innocent. Nikolai wasn't even close to falling for that or being moved by such appearances, but he had little choice but to comply with the demon. Then the demon stuck out her hand and made him an offer. “You give me entertainment, and I will provide you power. Deal?” With no other options apparent before him Nikolai replied, "Deal." After a moment's pause he accepted the offered hand in a firm handshake, only to feel the intense pain course through his body, radiating out from his palm. Caught somewhat by surprise by whatever sort of magic this was, he grunted in pain as his legs buckled momentarily. However he did not fall and before the pain had stopped he managed to right himself, tightening his grip and meeting her gaze through the eye-watering pain of whatever foul brand this was. “I will give you a present mortal! Yes, I will! How nice of me!”

It seemed Abadina had more or less fully reverted back to her child-like impressions. It didn't matter, he wouldn't waver. Not now. "Most gracious of you, Demon of destruction." When she began her childish applause, that was all he took it for at first, but then he saw what was contained in her palms and was reminded that nothing the demon said or did could be taken at face value. When he realized the scenes playing before them, he had to remind himself that these may not be true representations of what was going on in reality. But if they were... "So she yet lives..." He was drawn to Ivy, now apparently reunited with Cane. "There is more to the sorcerer's magic than was apparent."

“If you could take anything away from one of them… what would it be?” He broke his gaze from the images playing in her hands to meet her eyes through his mask, the pouting and puppy eyes eliciting no reaction from him, he had hardened his heart to such things long ago. “And make it interesting and creative and shit! I have heard soooo many humans state the obvious. Don’t bore me or I’ll regret shaking you on it!”

Nikolai thought it over for a moment. It was a unique opportunity, he considered what he might take, something that would interest the demon. That left out something obvious such as their powers or weapons. But did that mean that the others were getting similar opportunities? There was no way to be sure, but he had to consider the possibility. But what would he want to take? Something to cripple the competition. "Interesting? Well then how about this: I would take from Cane Stark, his hope. All of his hope. Man can fight through and for many things, but at the end of the day all he has is his hope. The hope that it will be alright, the hope that he mattered, that his actions might make some sort of difference, that his loved ones will be safe, that vengeance will be visited upon his enemies. He hopes something will come of his actions. Take away all of his hope, and there is nothing left, he is...destroyed, so to speak." Finished, he observed the demon's reaction. "Not too boring for you, I trust?"