Scene #6526: MECC: Zenos yae Galvus vs All-Seeing Eye

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Zenos yae Galvus	Once more, it was time for the arena to erupt into cheers, as another match in the MECC was to take place. The announcers doing their best to get the audience riled for the event, as the two fighters would make their way to the arena. On one side of the arena was Zenos yae Galvus, Legatus of the Twelfth Legion, General of Garlemald, and Imperial Viceroy of both Doma and Ala Mhigo. Adorn in dark Garlean steel armor, with a helmet with two large horns sticking straight up as well as a white mask to fully cover his face. The armor is also adorned by red fabric, as well as a holster of various blades on one side of him. The man moves ponderously towards the arena until he has come towards his side. As his opponent approaches, Zenos stays focused and calm, a hand resting on one of the various blades in the Sword Revolver on his hips waiting for the battle to begin. He is not particularly warm and welcome, nor is he bitter or resentful. Instead, he just is, watching his opponent and simply waiting, like an eye of a storm.
All-Seeing Eye	Approaching the arena, flanked by a procession of Autochthonian honor guard in ceremonial yet utilitarian regalia, is All-Seeing Eye. As usual, Eye's outfit is by far more extravagant than that of his comrades. He wears a long, flowing silk robe, gold with white trim. It's so long, in fact, that the honor guard must carry the hem to keep it from dragging in the dirt. As he approaches, the arena's sound system plays the track he's selected for his entrance--a driving string section begins the piece, which initially sounds like a classical piece. As the lyrics begin, it's clear the piece is a Motown hit--Ready or Not, Here I Come. At the utterance of the titular line, Eye slips out of the robe, roughly halfway to the arena by this point. Today he's not bothered with his human guise, or with hiding his augmentations. Zenos can see both his alabaster skin, and the extensive cybernetic augmentations, all made of some dark metal which seems to drink in the light around it. He's forgone a shirt, and opted for loose, breathable black silk pants with a striking purple lightning motif, as well as matching black trainers. When he approaches the arena, he leaps into the air, performing a somersault to land on his feet with a flourish. The Alchemical produces a synthetic rose with a sleight of hand, and tosses it underhand to the nearest spectator with a grin. At last, he turns his attention to Zenos. "I've been yearning to stretch my legs," says Eye to the Garlean, flipping his braided raven hair over one shoulder. "I hope you won't hold back just because we're allies, Zenos dear."
Zenos yae Galvus	Zenos does not relax his stance a bit, watching the outlandish entry and of course, even more, an outlandish song with the robe. These things are not in Zenos' interest, and to his thoughts were either there to either make him think less of him or to simply try to impress him. Neither thing happened, as the man considers the Exalt. "If you do not wish for me to hold back, then prove you are worthy of me using my full strength. I am not in the habit of using more strength than is necessary to achieve victory, any more is wasted effort. However, please do push me...I do so like a challenge," he says with...well it wouldn't be a /friendly/ tone, but it wasn't aggressive either. To that, Zenos brings his stance low, gripping the blade his hand rests on tightly, and brings the blade out in a sudden burst of speed, aiming to close the gap between the two warriors, and use the blade to try and cut through the exalt. The swing itself generates enough force to send wind wooshing from where it is swung.
All-Seeing Eye	The Alchemical's golden eyes twinkle with something when Zenos makes his demand. Perhaps a kindred spirit? He laughs, perhaps a shade derisively, but when the laughter fades, there is a shade of aggression in his gaze. "Very well!~" He wrinkles his nose playfully, nodding once. As Zenos assumes his own stance, warning indicators blink across Eye's HUD, providing a steady scroll of outcomes and probabilities and loading messages. He lets his augmentations do the work for him, and when the Garlean attacks, he moves with clockwork precision to avoid it. As would a professional gymnast, Eye nimbly, quickly makes a back-walkover, each leg lifted high in turn as he bends backwards. His hands touch the ground, his legs come back down to complete the circle, and as he rises, he makes his counterattack. Two steel cable whips emerge from ports in his wrists, oscillating as he guides them through the air. The crackle of electricity sounds, and a purple flash travels down the length of each. At the apex of their rise, Eye snaps his arms taut, sending both cables to slash at Zenos in an X-pattern similar to his own attack! The smell of ozone follows in its wake.
Zenos yae Galvus	The X slash pattern comes down, Zenos moving the blade up in a guard strike aiming to match blade for cable whip. The two collide, causing a burst of power to explode out from the two blows, as the arena suffers. However, cable overcomes sword, and while deflected a bit, the cables do manage to strike that armor. Zenos does not give up pressing an attack, while All-Seeing Eye seems to be quick and nimble, Zenos continues a series of light slashes, aiming to try and keep pace with the Exalt. As always, his attacks just seem to have the bare amount of force needed, aiming to not overextend, or use more strength than he needs to. Despite the quick movements, Zenos at least is following the Exalt every step of the way, and his dogged pursuit of the Exalt is in hopes to gain some purchase on the faster man.
All-Seeing Eye	It is clear that the feeling of 'you must prove yourself to me' is mutual. For much of Zenos' flurry, Eye appears to be toying with him, merely attempting to dodge the attacks without making any effort to counterattack. A few of his attacks require barehanded parries, which do draw some token blood. The Garlean will note it is not the blood of a man, but something else--oily and vaguely like quicksilver, save its darker hue. Like his augmentations, it seems to drink in the light around it as it's spilt. Eye underestimates his opponent, as he so often does, and one of Zenos' slashes nearly cuts his throat wide open. His long-suffering self-preservation charms take control, jerking him into the mathematically-derived 'safest spot.' This spot still sees him injured, and any rational fighter would be glad for the glancing blow. It is a minor wound, but one which marrs his most favorite thing: his face. Eye buys some space with a wide-arcing backflip, touching upon the ground lightly and lifting a finger to the spot. He spots the blood, and the amused smile remains--but the eyes seem nearly animal. "You've earned my... attention," says the Exalt with saccharine praise. Panels upon his shoulderblade slide open, and Zenos can hear the whine of turbine engines. "Whether you can handle it or not." PERIPHERAL ESSENCE OVERCHARGE APPARATUS ONLINE A crack like a cannon sounds, and the air around the Exalt crackles with purple electricity. Black clouds of smog gather at his feet, slowly swirling, and the champagne gem upon his forehead sparks erratically. He dashes towards Zenos, and lengths of solidified lightning appear in his hands, trailing behind him along with the steel cable whips. He jukes at the last second, leaping into a sideways somersault and spinning rapidly in the air, the tongues of each of his four whips--two steel, two lightning--lashing out at Zenos' center of mass. As he lands, one final strike with all four in unison is made at the swordsman's feet.
Zenos yae Galvus	The Exalt and the Garlean clash again, blood is drawn on both sides now, but it seems that Zenos has found something of a sore spot. The wires come down, and the Garlean guards as he is best able. But the force of several quick hits in succession drive the man back, causing slashes and blood to be drawn. "Heh," he laughs a bit, "Oh good, and here I thought you were not taking this seriously...but perhaps it is a bit lax of me to restrain myself too much. Let me show a bit more of my strength...do keep up, I would hate to think I used too much strength against an inferior foe." With that, the sword returns to the sword revolver, as a new sword spins into place. Swords drop from the sky around the arena, sparking dangerously with electrical aether as Zenos comes out in a swing, aiming to tear through the arena and unleash a massive burst of wind to try and throw the exalt away from him. However, he was also trying to blast him towards one of the swords, aiming to surge through the man with a blast of electrical damage on top of the burst of wind from the sword in his hand.
All-Seeing Eye	The blast of wind strikes Eye in the chest, hurling him upwards. The whips trail behind him like streamers, snapping in the opposite dirrection as he's slammed into the ground. Zenos' effort to blast him towards one of the swords is a complete success, and he strikes it head on. The blade not only cuts his flesh, but electrocutes him. For a moment, he's caught off guard. Electricity is kind of his 'thing' however, and after the initial surprise, Eye actually appears to siphon energy from the charged aether around the sword. When he rises, the curtain of smog has thickened to the point that it reaches his knees, and the dark clouds are illuminated with occasional flashes of purple from within. "No," Eye says with a predatory grin and a shake of his head as he gets to his feet. "We wouldn't want that." The smile vanishes, replaced with a bloodthirsty scowl, and he's off. Wrist-mounted crossbows pop up from his arms, and his eyes fold and click away into disturbing, remorseless steel nodules. He breaks into a sprint, firing at 45 degree angles--not at Zenos, but at the swords, bouncing the crossbow bolts off of the Garlean's weapons. They ricochet to the sword behind Eye, seemingly on a collision course with the Exalt. Rather than be struck in the back by his own attack, Eye somersaults over Zenos, pelting the ground with blasts of lightning from his eye-cannons to try and force him on the defensive. As he sails over the Garlean, two /more/ steel cables emerge, this time from his ankles, and right before landing, Eye lashes out with all six of his whips, attempting to trap Zenos in a clinch! If he's successful, what follows after is a near-blinding corona of electrical discharge, channeled into his weapons in an effort to electrocute Zenos!
Zenos yae Galvus	The stunt was absolutely amazing, flashy as all get out, but perfectly timed. The sword comes up, aiming to try and block what he could with the blade, and while the blade work is amazing, there was simply too many angles to cover. The whips follow suit, grabbing onto the Garlean and with a massive burst of energy the electrical energy surges through the man from Garlemald. Forced to a knee from the attack, and with his helmet finally removed from his head, the man looks up. He's pretty, long blonde hair flows down the sides of his head, his head has a strange 'pearl' object in it, and his features are fair and beautiful. The look on his face is one of /joy/, the excitement of the fight... The raw emotion from All-Seeing Eye, the fact that he got so /mad/ so /visceral/ over the slight. He laughs, as he brings himself to his feet, the grin manic. "Hahaha...well! Such a treat...I am rarely so pressed in such a way...so rarely am I impressed with someone else's style...oh yes." "You might be the one..." He says, with a grin. Like someone who has been searching for something for so long. Then there is a change, in his eyes, both of them glow red, a strange symbol in them, something like a clock. The eyes of the resonant, as the aether builds around him, he moves differently. There is a beauty and efficiency in his moves, flowing with the tides of battle in such a way you might think he is looking into the future, his strikes are far more accurate. This time, however, he swings a blade in rapid succession, so fast that he blurs with motion. The first blade is the swell, attempting to catch the man in a tornado of blades. The second blade that comes to his hand is the Storm, as he swings, attempting to cut through him, a trail of lightning follows, aiming to break through the man's defenses as he slashes. The final sword, the Ash, comes to his hand as he swings it in a massive slash upwards, and then back down. The force of the swing causes a massive wave of fire to erupt in a cone from the swing, turning everything in front of it that wasn't the Exalt into ash.
All-Seeing Eye	A spark of sobriety pushes through Eye's blinding fury. Zenos has appealed to the one thing that can pull him out of his murderous episodes--the same thing that often incites them. His vanity shines through as Zenos comes to the realization that he might be 'the one.' Eye scoffs. He doesn't even know what Zenos means by 'the one,' but he knows one thing. "Of /course/ I am. I'm one of a kind, darling." As it so often does, his vanity distracts him from the efficient, lethally quick sword strike which cuts Zenos free of the clinch, leaving him wide open for the Resonant-enhanced flurry which leaves a patchwork of weeping cuts upon his bare chest. His enhanced vision tracks the blades with precision, but his dexterity augmentations are always just a moment behind. Perhaps channeling Zenos' lightning has had an effect on them. Perhaps they need to be recalibrated. Perhaps the Garlean is better than he was willing to give credit for. Eye tries the same trick from before, reaching out with his hands in an effort to catch the Storm, that he might channel its energy and add it to his own reserves. For his efforts, the sinewy fabric of his hands' synthetic musculature is slashed nearly to ribbons, frayed to such a point that the delicate copper wires and whining servos beneath are visible, through a thick coat of his oily black lifeblood. The Ash has by far the most profound effect, however. With no defense left to speak of for the combination strike, the wave of fire washes over Eye, the backdraft forcing distance between the two of them and lifting him off of his feet. With the fire having baked his clay skin to a brittle shell, the force of the aftershock easily blows the crumbling exterior away, revealing a disturbing stained-black endoskeleton of wires,synthetic musculature, and myriad precision pistons and servos. To a Garlean engineer, even in this state, he would still be a thing of beauty, but with only the skin of his head remaining, the audience erupts in a series of frightened murmurs as he rises to his feet. "Well done!" He laughs melodiously. "Had an enemy so marred my flawless form," says Eye, twirling both sets of arm-whips, "I would be furious. I thought at first it was mere luck, but I see I was wrong. Zenos, darling..." The whips increase in speed to inhuman levels, becoming more like large circular saws. The lightning aspect gives them a pale purple glow as they cut gouges into the arena floor. "HAVE AT YOU!" Eye closes the distance yet again, lifting both sets into the air and leaping. The rapid spinning affords him a longer amount of hang time, and his eye-cannons fire a few blasts of lightning to guard his approach. With a sound like buzzsaws, Eye swipes at Zenos with each set of rapidly spinning whips, weaving in nimble jumping kicks to try and keep him off his balance.
Zenos yae Galvus	There is genuine /laughter/ from Zenos, he was /enjoying/ this! He was /ENJOYING/ being so hard pressed, being forced to use everything he had, instead of bored not bothering and losing by either simply not putting enough of a fight, or by simply crushing his opponent. Now? Now he can go all out, now he can push himself to the very limit. "And you as well! Come! Let us truly live!" he laughs again, truly he was having fun. The eye focuses again, once more keeping pace with the Exalt. Keeping the battle going, wishing it could last forever. Blades hit swords, the blades dig into armor and sink into flesh. Beams fire at the man, one of which is simply bounced right off of the blade, but the second set sears right into the chest of the man. And he laughs, this is the most fun he has had in a long time. The most he has ever actually pushed himself. He brings the ash up again, this time aiming to clash with the blades and push forward, aiming to see the Exalt eye to eye. "I should not be so judging of packages...you TRULY have brought something forward I have never been before...pushed. Haha! Yes, let this moment last forever!" And with that, three blades fall from the sky. They channel energy straight into Zenos as he disappears. He grabs the Swell, swinging it out and aiming to generate a blast of wind to once more tear into flesh. Disappearing again, he appears near the Storm and releases a massive wave of electrical energy around him. Then he grabs the Ash with the same motion, leaping into the air from where he dropped it, and swings it once more, trying to CLEAVE right through the Exalt.
All-Seeing Eye	Eye's whips clash with Ash, making a metallic clang followed by the piercing scrape of cable against steel. He makes a quick disarming motion, tugging with his arm and turning to use his shoulder as leverage--a cornerstone of Live Wire Style. What he wasn't expecting was for Zenos to be so quick! The Exalt smiles widely as Zenos slips his grasp, feeling similarly to Zenos. Never, not even in the secret fighting rings exclusive to practitioners of his art, has he had so much fun fighting an ally. The very thought seemed alien until now, but now he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he will compete in this tournament for years to come, just for the hope of being so thrilled again. The pitiless steel nodules which have taken the place of his eyes still track Zenos with mechanical agility, calculating potential attack vectors only to throw the equations out as the Garlean effortlessly shifts to his next position. WARNING: EXO-ESSENCE BUILD UP DETECTED PREDICTIVE TARGETING INADVISABLE RECOMMEND SATURATION STRIKE Eye hastily tries to prevent Zenos' attack, knowing full well he doesn't have the energy to mitigate a direct hit. Though he quickly fires a deluge of crossbow bolts into the air, the rain of projectiles is too late to stop Zenos' finisher. He brings up both sets of arm whips in a last-ditch effort to protect himself as the gust of cutting wind comes. The force of the Garlean's attack slams against his impromptu shields, his servos whining audibly under the stress of trying to fight against it. Zenos' attack begins to win out, pushing Eye across the arena inch by inch. Stubborn as ever, Eye struggles against it, and the motors in his right arm begin to give out, sparking and bursting to the shock of the spectators. Losing fine control allows the cutting wind to take the path of least resistance, and Eye grits his teeth as the wind cuts through the hole, severing his steel cable and cutting a gash in his arm so deep as to make it effectively useless. He remains standing, to even his own surprise--and after that initial moment of surprise, smiles at Zenos. Eye breaks into a jog, into a run, into a sprint, charging headling into danger one last time. His right arm dangles uselessly, but he doesn't need it. He dips into a one-handed handspring, pushing himself off of the ground. Steel cables emerge once more from his ankles as he tucks into a front-flip. As he turns in the air, the whips slash at Zenos several times in quick succesion, sparking with the last bits of electricity he can muster as his crossbow bolts rain down all around them. He lands on the other side of the Garlean.
Zenos yae Galvus	The Anime in this fight intensifies. The two forces collide, each one pushed to their very limits. Each one holding out for that moment where their strike will land home, where they will claim victory. It's more than winning too, it is the thought that another person could push them to their limits. Sword clashes against the whip, armor broken and shattered, impaled onto flesh that it was made to protect. While Zenos has access to both arms, he has lost function of one of his eyes due to one of the whips striking home. Both look at the other... It was the moment of truth. They both dive in for the other, each one swinging at the same time. However... This time it was All-Seeing Eye's whip that manages to break through the slash, and the electrical surge courses through Zenos and forces him to a knee. Breathing heavily, but laughing...truly laughing Zenos is forced to admit defeat. Rising slowly as the Shrine does it work, he moves towards All-Seeing Eye. "An excellent battle, my friend. Come, let us celebrate your victory...because the next one will be mine," He says, without /any/ hostility.
All-Seeing Eye	The Shrine has its work cut out for the both of them, but its powers are impressive and well known. After a dramatic silence, the audience erupts into thunderous applause for both fighters. Eye offers Zenos a martial artist's bow, fist pressed into one palm, slightly bent at the waist. "I will hold you to that, dear," replies the Exalt no less amicably. He claps Zenos on the shoulder. "So! Where are you taking us?" Those in the audience, cheering loudly though they may be, would do well to remember this day. They have not only witnessed two fighters pushing one another to their absolute limits, as is the spirit of the very competition, but they have witnessed the formation of a powerful friendship. It's probably one of the Multiverse's more dangerous friendships, too...