Scene #6849: The Blademaster Doll

Owner	Pose
Vergil	The Rudiani Travelling Circus has been voyaging the Multiverse for 15 years now, drawing mediocre crowds with mediocre acts. But this latest attraction is sure to get butts into seats. Or into the shabbily constructed arena outside their big top. Participation requires a large fee, and signing a waver agreeing that the circus is not liable for injury, death, or even ensuring that you receive treatment or have your death reported. Watching the fights is free, but overpriced popcorn and cheap soda are hawked relentlessly. Standing in the middle of the arena is the doll. It has luxurious straw for hair, hacked short in a choppy 'do. It's clad in a traditional kimono, with slits cut in the side and back to leave room for all eight of its arms. Each one clutches a sword, all of different makes. A katana, a shortsword, a saber, a flamberge, a juute, a jian, an estoc, and a khopesh make up its arsenal. Its body seems to be made of porcelain, or other kind of ceramic. It's cracked around its right eye, giving a glimpse at complicated internal mechanics. Gears, cogs, and pulleys interconnect into some grand abstract system. "Come one, come all!" blares the ringleader through a megaphone, his tinny voice filling the air. "And face the Blademaster Doll! One the training dummy for the greatest swordsman who ever lived, passed on to us when the Grim Reaper came for him! Within its construction is the old master's blade! Best the doll, and the blade is yours! All comers fight together, but only the one who lands the killing blow claims the blade!" Vergil has already enrolled because of course he showed up for this. He seems mad that he's being made to wait, one hand clenched tightly around Yamato's hilt as he stares daggers at the ringmaster.
Corona Arclite	Let's be entirely fair here. Corona doesn't really care about whatever supposed rare prize is within the so-called 'doll'. The vixen engineer is much more interested in the robot itself. Multi-limbed autonomous construction is a difficult design to impliment and not lose a certain amount of precision and efficiency. If the Blademaster is as exceptional as it's being toted as, she's just got to go poke at it and see what she can learn. Maybe that is why she's fiddling with the device strapped to her arm more than readying a weapon like people would expect.
Tomoe	Even a mediocre circus is still better than a lot of stuff tomoe would find on youtube or any other video site, back home. There is something to be said for live entertainment. However, that's not quite why she's here nay. Tomoe heard something about a /sword/ a rare sword belonging to a master swordsman her eyes got very large and wibbly when she heard. Tomoe is not fooling about either as she waits with the other contenders and she tilts her head a bit at Corona. "I'll leave enough of the doll for you to study." She notes with a grin to her friend. Though Vergil leaves her on edge she damn well knows he's a bigger fish than she is, she still recalls the thrashing he gave her after all. "So your here too are you?" Tomoe says in a neutral tone.
Lory Thumper	Lory Thumper isn't really here for the prize. She just wanted the challenge. It isn't every day that you hear about a so-called training machine that is dangerous enough to require a waiver and that the owners are confident enough in to offer a prize to whoever can beat it. The many waivers and stipulations of them is a bit worrying, but that just makes the challenge all the more enticing. Once they enter the tent the short bunny cop checks her pistols, removing and reinserting the clips and takes stock of the number of discs on the belt around her waist. She blinks at seeing another animal person here before she puts her riot helmet on and tightens the strap. She then nods to the others present. "Hey there. Officer Lory Thumper, MPD. Are we all attacking this thing at the same time? I figured a thing like this would be a one at a time thing." Touta at least is someone she has met, so once he arrives she offers a smile and a short wave. "Hey there, Touta."
Touta Konoe	A kid arrives at the circus; there should be nothing unusual about those words being together. Though when you add in details of a free circus that doesn't guarantee the life of it's viewers, the mention of a mechanical training dummy with some fancy blade in it, and that kid that arrives having a sword of his own...Well, you know that you're definitely somewhere strange in the Multiverse. Upon his arrival Touta doesn't seem too out of place. Rather, besides his blade he probably isn't too much worth noticing. He probably just looks like many young bloods in the crowd who are trying their hand to nab that sword. The only difference probably being that he's probably on the shorter and younger end of the participants. "Wonder why you'd end up putting your sword in a training dummy of all things?" < Likely for the same reasons you leave one in an abandoned castle in a cave for a decade... > "Ah, ...Guess it's uh...Not too weird then. Well, guess we'll just see how tough this thing really is and- Ah, Tomoe? Lory? Hey guys!" A shout comes from the crowd as the young man runs towards the both of them in a bit of surprise. "Hey! Been a while. You guys come to check out this circus too?" As he continues greeting them though, he notices another familiar face, it's not someone he knows too well but the white hair was pretty hard to forget. "Hey...You were in the MECC right? I remember seeing you in a few matches." Whether that's a good thing or not is up for him to interrupt, though another question if this guy would recognize this child of all people. He's not holding his breath anyone ever really does though.
Vergil	Vergil glances at Tomoe and sniffs dismissively. "I am," is all she gets in reply. Corona is ignored since she ignores him, which is probably most blessed interaction anyone could ask for out of the half-demon. Lory gets a light sneer. "That is what the ringmaster has decided. Don't get in my way." Touta comes along and brings up the MECC, which only seems to make Vergil angrier. He turns his head and refuses to answer. The ringmaster does his best to cajole more participants (and more money) out of passers-by, but no further takes. He looks to everyone and rubs his hands together. "All right folks, good luck! Just know that this gate doesn't reopen until the doll is busted or you're all down. And if you're down, we drag you off the premise and then you're on your own. And hey uh... just remember, only one prize, so if you want to, you know, /make less competition/..." He winks and does that little clicking noise that only scumbags do when they wink. Before anyone can ask for clarification, he's pulling the gate that leads into the arena open. The place is moderately packed, probably more spectators than any real circus act this place has ever had. People seem to like the more 'classical' circuses, where you might see someone die. The doll jerks up straight and brandishes all its weapons as the participants arrive. Vergil smirks and says, "The blade is mine," before vanishing in a flurry of blue light, immediately going to take the doll's throat.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite fingerguns at the ringmaster. "Or maybe you should of sold more tickets for the post show show fighting over the prize." Except for her, of course. She adjusts her goggles, makes sure her hat is strapped on tight, and ambles through the gate. Once in the circus arena Corona goes to draw a weapon as expected. Less expected is that she doesn't draw a gun like most people that know her would figure. She pulls an actual hammer out of her inventory hammerspace, and when she clenches down the handle with one gloved hand it expands to its full size, a few vents of steam hissing around the head as whatever mechanism inside powers up. The vixen looks up a the Blademaster, and rolls her shoulder as she grips the breaker in both hands. "Let's see just what yer made of." Cuz she's expecting that crematic exterior isn't nearly as fragile as it looks. That's when she finally charges in and heaves her weaponized tool around, the augmentations in her gloves and the mechanism in the head providing the power needed to swing the thing.
Tomoe	Tomoe looks to Lory for a moment. "Tomoe The Iron Lily, Gate Crasher's Union." She notes then grins over at Touta. "It's been a while hasn't it? I hope you have been well." She looks up into the crowd for a moment and tilts her head a bit. She will grip her own blade Caliburn an imperfect copy of the Excalbibr which Kirito holds. It's good enough for her purposes she will look out as Vergil says. "We'll see about that." Tomoe notes before she will dash in at the blade doll, poping several of her tanking abilities in the process which cause a bit of a glow over her body for a brief moment. She's then lunging at the doll and attacking in the wake of Vergil's own actions hoping he's made an opening she can exploit. "SNAKEBITE!" HEr blad glows green for a moment before she launches into an attack with inhuman speed thanks to the sword art.
Lory Thumper	Lory raises an eyebrow at that sneer from Vergil and smirks lightly. "Fine. So long as you don't get in mine, either." she says. She listens as the ringmaster describes the situation some more, and gives a distasteful frown at the suggestion he makes. "Psh. Even more shady than I thought." she says quietly. But, she smiles lightly once more as she looks to Touta. "How are you and Sable Sidearm getting along these days?" she asks Touta, teasing both him and the talking sword just a bit before... She blinks in surprise as Vergil seems to teleport in some fashion. "Woah. Everytime I think -I- am fast..." she mutters as she pulls her twin pistols from their holsters. They look somewhere between a typical high calibur handgun and a futuristic raygun, and the high pitched sound of a capacitor charging can be heard from both. With a few people going in for melee she's quite happy to run around and try to flank the machine. "Nice to meet you, Tomoe!" she calls out between shots. Shots that definitely are not rays. More like railguns somehow miniaturized to a handheld size. And somehow despite there being a few people in melee range of the target not a single one of her shots comes close to hitting them, even if they don't hit the target for some reason.
Touta Konoe	Touta gets the cold shoulder from Vergil, "Ah, think I hit a nerve?" Seemed so. Well, he's not gonna be too insistant about it either way, there's plenty of others who seem eager to see him. "Yeah, way too long. Definitely need to catch up when we smash up this thing up a bit. Oh, and we're doing well Lo-" < It's Side-Sti ... My name is Kurobo...> He did apparently not like getting teased, not one bit. Before either can speak up anymore the ringmaster starts explaining the rules of this circus cage match. Seemed pretty simply, all participants go in, but only one goes out with the blade. "Wait...Did he just?" Yeah, he totally did just imply for everyone to get in each others way. Well, we'll see how that goes apparently. Touta ends up one of the participants who starts walking through into the cage with the others. His expression doesn't really show any signs of panic or excitement. His expression is more one of curiosity. "So this thing was used by some master swordsman for training? Well, if it's able to deal with this many people at once I'd probably believe it..." The first one to dash off into the fray in light speed is Vergil...Very blue light speed. "Jeez...I've never seen a guy get so excited to play with a doll." Of course before you know it Lory, Tomoe, and Corona are all entering into this circus jamboray as well, but seeing once everyone's gotten their swings in Touta makes it a point to try clashing blades with this thing as well. So he runs up towards the doll as he tries to make a clean cut at the arm holding the jian first.
Vergil	Vergil flies at the doll, only for his katana to fail to take its head. Instead, it connects with the dummy's juute, Yamato now trapped. Interestingly, the juute is supported by the shortsword to make sure the attack is stopped cold. "What-" Vergil starts to ask, before the doll's own katana is swung at him. He steps back in that same flurry of blue, and it's not clear if he took damage in the exchange or not. Corona comes rushing in with something a bit more weighty than a sword. All four arms on the doll's right contort to create a lattice of braced blades, aiming to block the hammer. But the blow pushes through and impacts its side with a concerning crack. However, her estimate is right. The ceramics would have shattered if they were normal. This thing is packing more armour than it looks. Tomoe comes rushing in, and once again the doll aims to block her strike with the juute. It seems to prefer doing so against weapons thin enough to fit inside the hook that sticks out of the side. However, her rushing assault grinds her sword against its dagger, pushing past and letting her score a cut along the doll's front, tearing its kimono and revealing its torso. Lory hangs back and shoots with her EM guns. Something this classical shouldn't have reference for guns, but it immediately attempts a defensive maneuver. The hand gripping the flamberge begins to rotate at the wrist, making the sword spin while it brings it to bear, turning it to face Lory and attempt to block the bullets. But the shots slip through, striking and cracking the doll's exterior once more. Touta comes in a bit more strategically, looking to disable an arm. He scores a nick, but the doll whirls the jian expertly, pushing Kurobo away before it can sink any deeper. At this point, the Blademaster Doll begins backfliping away, getting space before coming to a stop. It stands for a moment, clicking and whirring ominously, before launching into a frenzy of motion. Corona is first, as the doll launches itself into the air before coming down on her with all eight blade tips first. Next is Tomoe, whom gets cartwheeled around at varying speeds, all while blades lash out at her legs. Suddenly, it runs right at Lory, whirling the flamberge once more, but stabbing at her with the estoc in the momentary gaps between the blade-propeller. And finally, Touta, whom gets somersaulted at before the doll launches itself into the air, bringing all that spinning momentum into a massive overhead cleave with the jian!
Corona Arclite	That's one of the perks of a hammer over a blade, even when blocked it's good at delivering some of that kinetic force. The impact more or less verifies Corona's hunch and the Blademaster flippity-flips away. "Sterner stuff indeed," she murmurs mostly to herself. The whirring and whizzing of intricate machinery might not be loud enough for everyone to hear when the automaton moves, but the machinist's acute hearing hones in on it in about the same brief amount of time the Blademaster Doll takes to home in on her. Corona kicks the boosters in her boots to backjump from the diving machine, avoiding the concentration of points by scant milimeters. The blades slamming into the ground instead still produces enough of a kickback force to catch the light fox before she lands and toss her farther back across the arena though. Corona hits the ground pretty hard but rolls with it to get quickly back onto her feet. The hammer is stowed back with her gear as she dusts herself off, and casts a glance in Lory's direction for a moment. "Yer from the same big city as that jaguar lady ain't ya? Nice sidearm ya got there." Corona proceeds to draw her unusually large handgun, giving the chamber a spin before slapping it into place. Must be a custom design, for whatever reason it has the cylinder placed more to the barrel. "But this is a real firearm." Corona holds it out and fires off several shots that all look like they're going to miss. ... Until the point they abruptly turn angles mid-flight and home in on the Doll!
Tomoe	Tomoe does her best to keep track of all the combatant even Vergil as she does need to account for where everyone is either for taking down the doll. Or making ready for the likely fight over the loot. For now, though the doll has to go down. Corona is tracked as she moves while she also keeps tabs on Vergil, Touta and Lory. She will score a hit but she knows it's not enough she knows it's far from over. She's dead to rights on it. As the doll starts moving at high speed and making like a blender and she's hammed fairly hard but her rather well-known endurance shows quite well. She's cut up glowing wounds covering her gear and body are plain to see as she's back in action quicky wings flaring out for a moment, to give her a burst of speed. Everyone's still standing for the moment good she blitzes in keeping herself in the air as she launches into a whirling attack hacking and slashing at the doll as she goes. She'll move to parry with her blade where she can, also blocking with her shield where she can She seems intent to press the attack and stress the doll with rapid attacks. To let the other fighter have a chance to make greater attacks upon the doll.
Touta Konoe	Touta's blade only gets so far as this thing's Jian skills really strut preventing Touta from really trying to hammer into the damn thing, and before he can even try to keep on the offensive its already dancing away, "This thing's quick for a dummy!" It's apparently not just quick, but powerful as well. The dummy finds itself capable of maneuvering its way through the caged area as it deals crosses blades with all of the contenders before coming back at Touta. Touta sees it coming, but underestimates just how much momentum this thing's built up with the Jian. He brings up Kurobo perpendicular to the strike to defend, but all that momentum forces the blade down along with Touta's defenses... "....Damn...Guess this doll's really not for playing around." As the boy says that he bleeds profusely from his left side. It's only been the thing's first attack but he's already buthered this child. Touta's arm and parts of his shoulder are cleaved clean off in just a moment. Touta's the one to jump back now as he tries to create some distance if only for a moment. Why would he do that when he's use to injuries like this...Well...He feels something welling up. His breathing's getting a bit ragged, and he's gritting his teeth in immense pain. But the bleeding stops soon enough and there's an awkward smile on the kid's face. A dark miasma slowly emanates from the wound but just as quickly as it appears...It settles and along with it the wound covers over. "Almost lost it for a second...Gotta stay cool else I'm not gonna get to pay this thing back." Without another remark the now handi-capped fighter charges back into the sword puppets striking range. Just like the sword puppet Touta makes it a necessity to come at it from above. He uses all the strength in his legs to blast him into the air to the point he probably looks like he's more of a rabbit than Lory. "Alright, time for some payback. 10,000-FOLD!!!" The boy turns a dial on the blade and like that from almost looking like he's floating, the boy descends at a rapid rate back towards the ground with his blade intending to thoroughly cleave into the Jian wielding arm. Touta doesn't like to admit it, but he can be a bit petty.
Lory Thumper	Lory was certainly not expecting something holding that many weapons to be that mobile, which is why she was taking it easy so she could try and get some better hits in! She tries to fend off the blows from the estoc with her guns, but the blade sticks in the trigger guard on one of the attempts and the bunny is pulled right into that spinning flamberge. "Ng! Oh cra-" is all she manages before being caught in a blender. When she finally bounces clear, the damage is pretty bad. If it wasn't for her kevlar armor the bunny might very well have been done for. As it is, the armor keeps the sword blows from being cuts...which just turns them into what amounts to mace blows instead. Except for a cut on her cheek in that very limited area where there is no armor or helmet. "Well...I guess they weren't kidding about this thing's deadliness!" she says as she starts running in a strafing path around the device. "And to think I was actually thinking of -not- using this." she says as she pulls a few yellow discs from her belt along with some black ones. A quick tapping of their middles starts a beeping sound before she throws them like ninja stars. The black discs hit first, unleashing small explosions against it. The yellow follow, but when they explode it isn't as much destructive as debilitating. Foam explodes out and quickly hardens in an attempt to slow down the movements of the dummy. Even with the knowledge that he is a vampire, seeing Touta in such a state so quickly is worrying. You never know if someone is actually immortal or is just immortal like an elf until that point where you do.
Vergil	BLAM! Corona shoots at the dummy, and it remains still, apparently realising that these shots are going wide. But when they ricochet and drive into it, the crowd cheers! Said cheers drown out the nasty grinding caused by bullets getting stuck inside it. However, whatever internal damage has occurred has not slowed the doll at all. Indeed, it seems to get faster to meet Tomoe's rapid assault, it's eight blades whirling to deflect her one entirely. However, amidst this exchange, Touta descends with his dramatically heavier blade, aiming to take one of the eight arms. He makes contact with the jian-bearing arm and Kurobu sinks deep. The doll reacts fast, lashing out to shove Touta away with its other seven arms before the arm can be removed entirely, but it now hangs limp at its side. At the very least, that's one down! The doll considers it for a moment, long enough to be rattled by Lory's grenades and caught in the following blast of foam. It struggles, attempting to pull itself free, but Vergil is upon it in an instant. His katana flashes, drawn and swung in the same motion with enough force to launch the doll skyward, before a blue spectral sword manifests and spikes it back to the ground before dissipating. The crowd is cheering now, and the ringmaster speaks over tinny loudspeakers. "The Blademaster Doll has some moxie, but five vs one is never a fair fight, is it folks?! With only seven good arms, what will it do next?!" The doll whirrs for a moment, taking stock once more, before it rips off its damaged arm, leaving it and the jian on the ground. It moves, attaining even greater speeds as it tries a new tactic. It launches its katana into the air so it can two-hand its flamberge, bringing it to bear against everyone's defenses with great, heavy swings! Fast AND strong!
Lory Thumper	She is more ready this time, and so when the flamberge comes swinging in Lory catches it on her guns. She grunts at the impact, he arms having to just take it as she uses the momentum to get clear of further swings. As she flies through the air she somersault spins upward, firing shots downward as she goes. And finally hooking her legs around a wire overhead so she can keep raining gauss gun rounds down on the machine while trying to stay out of reach. That is until she hears something over the radio that causes her teeth to clench. "...craven huh..." she growls a bit before letting go and dropping down. She somersaults again before aiming a falling kick at the head of that dummy. "Tactics aren't being a coward! But maybe you don't have the brains to know the difference!"
Tomoe	Tomoe is not able to get past the doll's defence this time she does her best to at least keep it busy, however, others have more luck then she does. One of the arms is disabled. Good, that's one less blade to worry about. Which is good as she's getting a hell of a beating even with this it's heavy swings come in hammering into and she does feel that one she tries to look over the doll with how it's moving. "The joints, mess with the joints if you can." She's got a plan now and she'll be going in rather than opening up with more sword attacks? She's chanting, golden runes dance about her as she speaks in badly accented and almost mangled Norse. Still the runes dance and a moment later a lighting bolt launches from her hand as heading right for the doll.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite's ears lay back at the grinding screechs made by precision machinery getting wedged with rounds. That's got to not be very good, though she doubts the machine was designed to feel damage, it would sort of defeat it's purpose. Her tail flicks a few times as she considers, turning to the crowd and doing a fancy twirl with her handcannon. Someone's got to work the audience a little, right? Though the gunslinger showmanship is going to come back to bite her in the fluffy butt very quick as it's while her back is turned that the Blademaster Doll undoes some of her handiwork by ripping off it's own damaged limb to throw it away. There's that moment of impending dread that makes her hackles bristle and Corona glances over her shoulder just in time to see the wrecked limb flung into the air. "Sunnuva varmint" is as much of a cuss she manages before-- WHUMP --The discarded limb crashes on top of her, and unable to avoid getting whalloped something fierce as the doll swings viciously whiling running off to terrorize the rest of the fighters. It could look like that was the end of the fight for the wily fox, but as the dust settles Corona eventually squirms her way out from the impact, bruised and bashed. She steps over the discarded weapon as she wipes some blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of one glove, now ragged duster fluttering about her movements and the reinforced material on the interior showing through the tears. "A'rawt then, if that's how it's gonna be." She holsters her main gun so the autoloader modded into her belts can take care of it, and draws a different firearm as she's walking back towards the fight, pulling a larger special round and loading it in. She's ignoring whatever scathing remark Vergil made as she cocks the weapon, takes aim, and fires the single shot with an audible retort, weapon hissing vents to compensate for the recoil. On impact the shell explodes, not in smoke and flames but a energized discharge. The construct probably has little in the way of electronics to fry, but the polarity field produced by it is still going to screw with the more delicate mechanics inside, making the grind even more as parts start to magnetize together and resist moving properly. Hopefully limiting the amount of force it can put into those swings.
Touta Konoe	Touta's able to get one of mechanical arms to go limp after Kurobo manages to get a heavier strike in. Though besides it's speed and power, it apparently has another thing going for it as well...Adaptability. "This is seriously one smart dummy!" That's all he can say no longer able to make potshots at this thing. It's already proven more of a pain than half of people he's had to go up against before! As it readjusts its grips on all its blades Touta tries to muster through all of the heavy blows but nearly finds himself cut severly through the torso this time with enough force that he gets sent flying into the cage itself. The young man shakes his head as he watches more blood spill, only to overhear Vergil in make his remarks. It's a bit rough to say but with the way Touta's performing he couldn't really say otherwise. But...He can try. "Ehehe...It just got a couple good pot shots in...We'll get through it." Touta pulls himself together. Both on a metaphorical and literal tense. First it's as he jams his blade in the ground to keep his balance, the second is when his detached arm finally flies from across the arena to re-attach to him. For the most part he practically looks healed from the last few shots, but frankly...He looks exhausted. He starts to clench his grip as he watches everyone doing their best to get this thing dealt with. "Man, that things really started to rev it's engine. We'll all probably get smacked up if this keeps up." < Mmm, in terms of power we could probably match it, but it's range and mobility would be hard to keep up with without keeping the weight at a minimum. > "Glad you agree. So we'll go with that then to see if we can get rid of all that momentum it's got." < Eh? Oi, Touta what're you -Oi?! > Touta doesn't let Kurobo finish his question before the boy presses on using Shundo. Maybe he's not as fast as Vergil right now, but he's definitely not a slouch at the moment either. At first he shundos in front of the sword puppet, than to it's side, to it's back, to it's side again, to it's back, side, front, side, back, side, back! He does this for a couple of seconds trying to find an opening among all of the blades before finally making a charge Where he's got the best shot. "500,000 ...YEARS OF PAIN!" Touta jams the blade where he can find the best opening, Making sure to lodge it into the machine as best as he can so that when this thing finally breaks apart there'll probably end up being two swords in it! But it seems like he's got a plan at least for jamming this gravity blade into the bot.
Vergil	The crowd oohs and ahhs as Lory uses the overhanging wire as a support. It's almost like a real circus! They also cheer as she descents into its whirling dervish, booting it right in the head and making it tip, slowing its assault just enough for Tomoe to line up her spell. The doll lacks any electronic components, but its straw hair catches ablaze while a burning crater is opened up in its chest. The crowd laughs as the ringleader jeers. "Look at that folks! Just goes to show a soulless doll is no match for our mighty heroes!" Corona fires... something. The crowd doesn't quite get it at first, but as the doll begins to slow down, whirring harder as it struggles to move, they laugh all over again, especially when the arms bearing the flamberge pop out. "See how canny they are! Using its own nature against it! Give 'em a round of applause folks!" They cheer anew, but then watch with baited breath as Touta begins to run circles around it. It struggles to turn to face him, head swivelling about as it tracks him. But it's too bogged down to stop him from burying Kurobo in it, another pained squeal from its gears sounding out and drawing another cheer. And then another sword joins it as Vergil flashes forward to bury Yamato in it. "This is a farce," he snarls, looking around. "Cowards using guns, humans jeering an honest fight. I consider this puppet a mere amusement, but it bears more heart than any of you," he says to the crowd, drawing jeers, boos, and empty containers thrown at him. "If you have even a scrap of a soul, doll, show us now!" He twists Yamato to pull it out into a spiralling slash that carries the Blademaster into the air, before sheathing the katana and somehow creating an orb of whirling slashes around the doll. It falls, having lost another arm, and lays still for a long moment before jerkily getting back to its feet. And then it... begins pulling its arms out? Every single spare is removed until only two remain. And then it pulls of it's head. And within its neck stump, is the hilt of a sword. With both hands, it grabs the handle and pulls, unsheathing a beautiful katana. Its polished blade catches the spotlight and scatters rainbows about as the doll slowly enters a stance. And after a pregnant pause, it swings. The air itself seems to ripple before time catches up, a cut slowly tracing along the border of the arena in a clockwise direction. And the combatants it passes suddenly feel the blade's impact.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite idly tucks the launcher under one arm and pulls her journal from one of her belt pouches. Yes, some people still use actual paper still. She jots a few notes on the effectiveness of that specialty round she used since it was designed for use on such mechanical opponents. A lot of her foes back home use automatons or anachronistic mecha after all. For all the guns and gumption she's got she's still an inventor at heart and detailing her work is still important. That and her analytical device is busy recording the actual contest so it's not usable for notetaking at the moment. Corona looks up from the journal, being a little more wary of the sound of dismembering mechanics this time around. "Well Ah'll be," she drawls as the machine takes off it's own head as well and pulls the weapon from within. "Thare really -was- a sword hidden in it." One hand reachs up to adjust the detectors in her goggles, and what blips on the display makes her frown. "An anomolous sword..." Unfortunately the attack that follows is so fast there's little motion to see, and more importantly doesn't make much noise save for the rush of air at the end, leaving Corona with no real hint of what it's really doing with that swing. Until the point reality seems to explode around her and the vixen is flung up against whatever boundry seperates the arena from the audience. Likely left a vixen shaped indent in the barrier as she slumps off it. "Ow." As she's sprawled on the ground Corona holds up her left arm to look at the analytical device, and still manages to smirk a little as the various bits of data from the Blademaster fight scroll across the grey and green screen. "But got what Ah wanted." The rest of you get to fight over the super flashy sword.
Tomoe	Tomoe has done arena and tournament fighting long before she was in the Multiverse and it had gone badly for her out of the arena when the death game came. Yet? She kept at it and she was indeed putting on a show here, Corona does not look good. She knows this has to be ended fast and right the hell now. She will gather her strength. She'll take her shield and ready another sword art this may be the last of what she has left in her. She's get savaged she should be down, she should be at least out of action from a hit like that. This doll has hit her harder than anything short of the Skull Reaper, the only thing to flat out killed her. She's looking a mess her body a mess of wireframes glowing bright red but her face is mostly spare and the look of it says it all. "I will not go down to some doll. Not Heathcliffs, not Obersons and certainly not /you/." With that Tomoe lunches launching into her final sword combo even throwing her shield at it to boot. She then strikes with her sword again and again savage blows aimed to just take this thing's arms and put it down for good. She gets it now the doll is a test for anyone to even be remotely worthy of the blade within? They would have to outsmart it and or over power it. "BEAT CRACK!"
Lory Thumper	Very little motion to see. Yet somehow Lory turns so that the incoming hit slams into the shield on her back instead of hitting her directly. Which doesn't feel like it does much good to her. She is still sent flying like a shot, feeling like she got hit by a wrecking ball and letting out a cry of pain in the process. Thanks to her light frame she is sent all the way to the wall of the stands, where she impacts and leaves a bit of an impression before bouncing off. She lands on her feet even after the wall impact, but her shield is full of cracks, as is the faceplate of her helmet. "What is with that guy? I mean I know honor in a fight is important and arena fights can be distasteful, but..." She speaks up. "...he signed up for this! Kinda removes the right to complain!" She charges straight for the thing this time. One blade is much easier to deal with than eight, and she does still have to prove that she isn't some craven coward who hides in the shadows. Even though that is what she does a lot of the time. But, besides all that, this is a chance to show off some of her Gun Fu skills! Once she has reached the dummy, Lory becomes a dervish herself. She unleashes a flurry of kicks as she circles the dummy, interspersed with punches using her guns as a sort of brass knuckles while firing shots at the same time. Death by a thousand cuts. Or in this case a thousand kicks, punches, and mag rounds!
Touta Konoe	The crowd goes wild as everyone starts finally buiding up momentum against the machine. Touta had been hoping that having Kurobo jammed in while it was weighted by hinder it, and it seemed that to a certain degree though it was already beginning to get bogged down. It all seems in a bit of hon- Okay it's too much to say this was honest fun, but at the very least it felt like a actual competition, and no one (besides Touta) had apparently been irrepairably maimed. So it comes as a bit of a surprise when Vergil, the guy who seemed so far to be either quite the taunter or just outright silent to call out the entirety of the crowd, and then even more so to call out to the machine... So when the machine gives its response by removing all of its limbs... "..." Touta's left speechless. There's no witty comebacks or excuses, it's just complete astonishment. He's not sure if this puppet really does have a soul or not, but there's one thing that Touta's come to a conclusion on. < Oi! Touta look! > Lost in his thoughts he fails to notice as it pulls a blade from its stump. Unsheathing a blade so beautiful that it legitimately is able to reflect a rainbow light across the caged arena. "That blade...Kurobo!" Without another word his blade dislodges itself from the machine and returns to his hand. Apparently whatever Touta had planned was made irrelevant the moment he pulled out that katana. It was probably the one referred to before. A beautifully forged katana was now held in the hands of a master forged puppet swordsman, settling into its stance, Touta's expression changes into one of seriousness, "Get ready, Side-Stick..." That paused moment feels like a an actual eternity, but it all ends in an instant. The clockwise motion of the blade strikes at Touta and even as Touta prepares himself, he finds himself almost nearly overpowered once more. Among the times Touta's been slapped around he's been cut up, sliced, mince, pulverized and so forth. But his wounds usually heal. Or at the least he doesn't show the wear and tear on his face... < Oi...Touta? Touta?! > So it's a concern when the talking sword is the one that ends up needing to check to make sure that his owner's alright. Touma coughs up blood as he picks himself up. It's the first that he can remember doing that in nearly a few years. A sign that there's clearly some sort of internal bleeding that wasn't being rectified with his powers which likely meant one thing. "That swords...Really special huh?" More than likely the blade had magical properties, enough so that it contaminated Touta's. Which long story short, was a bad thing for Touta's healing. But as he finally stands up his eyes don't immediately look at the machine, they look at Vergil. He coughs up blood a bit more, but there's an inherent smile on his face. It'd probably piss Vergil off to see it, but he can't help it. This guy made him realize something. "Hey Whitey...I don't care if you take the blade...But from here on...We got to give this swordsman a proper finale..." This thing was alive. Maybe not in the sense that a person was, maybe not even in the sense that Kurobo was, but it was alive. In a way, it made sense, there was no way a master swordsman could be content with a machine that only could go through the motions of swinging a blade it needed to have heart. And this machine clearly did in some way. So in these final moments, all Touta wants to do is treat this machine not like an obstacle or an event, but a proper opponent. Touta goes into his own stance, black miasma envelopes his hands and feet. He won't use the dial on his blade any further, all he wants to rely on is his own power and own skill with a blade to give the final strike. So just as the machine did, Touma also pauses as to accumulate what power he had left, and to muster any more he could pull together. . .
Touta Konoe	"Here I come!" He shouts as the ground below him crumbles. His feet push off the ground with intensity as he brings his blade back for one final swing. Blood coughs out of his mouth as he charges but he continues pressing forward intending to give one final slash to the machine in an attempt to behead it using all of his strength and skill he could muster left.
Vergil	Corona's scanners at first do peg the sword itself as some anomalous thing. But as the doll draws and swings it, the scanners do not track it. Rather, they track... the doll itself? It had not been registering anything before now, but all of a sudden it's lighting up the scanners. Vergil told it to 'reveal its soul.' Could it be that it just developed one? Grew one as a result of baring its master's old blade, using their own technique? Either way, though it managed to take one out, others still stand, and rejoin their assault as the crowd goes wild. Tomoe's shield staggers it, leaving it open for the following combo that destroys its robes entirely, leaving its spindly body on display. But it recovers as Lory moves in, and her rapid-fire combo is deflected with the blunt side of the katana, the doll's defence even tighter than it was when it had eight swords. Touta understands. He speaks to Vergil, and the ghost of a smile crosses the half-demon's face. "Let's," he says in response. Touta gives off miasma as he charges in, swinging with all his might, and the doll blocks. The two go sliding across the arena, blade against blade. The vampire has managed to breech the doll's guard and cut into it, but it's still standing. But then Vergil bursts with power, and takes on his demonic form. "Now fall," he intones, his whole form glowing as he places Yamato at his side, his hand hovering over it before he vanishes, and the whole arena erupts in blue lines tracing through the air. Including the seats, and the ringmaster's table.
Vergil	But the doll does not fall. It stands there, battered, chipped, internals torn to bits, missing six arms. But it stands, and holds that blade up, facing them all. It is raised, aimed to take heads... but it does not fall. Rather, the Blademaster Doll places the weapon back inside itself, reclaims its head, and turns to leave. Striding out of the ruined arena, past the torn and bloody bodies, out the gate and into the wilderness. With its newly discovered soul, does it not wish to fight? Or does it simply not wish to mar the last remnant of it's master with bloodshed? Who can say? Certainly not Vergil, he can't comprehend it. "Why... did it not strike?!" he exclaims, sounding both affronted and confused. He seems more focussed on that than all the lives he just took.
Tomoe	Tomoe has been fighting very hard but then as she's on her last leg and to her abject horror? She sees Vergil just attack with no regard for the crowd she calls out in horror she tries to move to somehow intercept the attack it's too late she's out of range too badly beat up and she will at this point collapse to the ground and her body shimmers the salamander vanishing leaving a very battered and wounded, somewhat shorter human woman with very long red hair, and she's also bleeding. "You're... just like ... them...just like Laughing...Coffin..." She's in no state to fight or do anything that could stop Vergil right now.
Touta Konoe	The ending should have been somewhat tranquil. A doll that found a soul from a passion. Choosing to not partake in worthless fights that had no merit. It had earned that and the respect of at least one person who had fought against it. It should have accepted the final attacks of these swordsman and then left as the crowds left complaining about their free entertaiment. But there's no complaints from the crowds, because there's no crowds any longer. Touta turns around looking back to Vergil and the horror he's inflicted. Blood coughing out once again onto the ground, but he still tries to speak up. "Oi...What the hell did you do?!" He had actually garnered a bit of respect for this person. Someone who seemed like they could find value in things where others weren't. But all that goes up in lines, blue lines. It would have been one thing to take out the people in the cage. It would have been another to just take out the ringmaster with them. But... "They were only watching! They didn't deserve that you ass!!!" Touta has a new opponent as the swordsman puppet leaves. It's a pitiful display in comparison to what he was doing before but with his magic contaminated he's barely healing and even more so he's exhausted. If he even tried to throw out anything to crazy using any sort of ki to reinforce his attack he's sure that it'd be him that keels over. So he takes his blade in a haphazard way to try and slam it across this half-demon's chest.
Lory Thumper	"Maybe it didn't strike because it seemed like we were beaten. Or maybe...it didn't strike just to make you ask why." Lory says to Vergil. She looks like she is about to say more when...her ears twitch. Where did all the cheers and jeers go? Lory realizes...it wasn't just the fighters who were hit. Her eyes widen in horror as she sees that the entire crowd has apparently been cut down. "Wh-...what the...?!" She turns quickly to Vergil. "You killed them all?! Just because they were cheering during a fight?!" She turns her guns on Vergil, then gasps as she sees his demonic form. She stares for a moment, then growls. "Maybe that thing left because it realized that for all your talk -YOU- are the one that doesn't understand! Monster!" Her bullets join Touta's in trying to take down Vergil. Those gauss rounds lance out as the bunny's teeth clench.
Vergil	Vergil, in the midsts of his ponderings, is unable to ready a defence against Touta's clumsy slash, not Lory's last-ditch shots. He staggers, the wounds closing laboriously as he slouches, breathing hard. "I thought you would understand," he wheezes at Touta. "You also have a devil inside, don't you?" He stares daggers at Lory. "I am a devil," he says firmly. "And these people were scum. Cheering and braying as the fat fool buttered you up, rendering a clash of swords and souls cheap entertainment. I wonder... would you be so outraged if he painted you the villain in this fight? Cowardly little rabbit." He turns his back, and Yamato flashes, cutting open a tear in space that he stumbles through. "Do not be mistaken," he says. "My loss goes to the Blademaster Doll. Not either of you. Should I hear you braying that you bested me... you shall know this devil's power." The bleed in space heals, and he disappears.