DD Preliminaries Round One: Team One vs. Team Three

Much like with the Bareknuckle Beatdown, Macht was here of his own volition and was already used to these weird-ass entrances. The roar of the crowd made the adrenaline pump through his veins, even as he could not tell who the woman standing beside him was. All he wanted right now was to get out into that battlefield - whatever it may be - and rip someone apart like they all came here to do.

At the announcements, Macht let out a low grumble partially due to still not knowing who his teammate was, and also due to the identities of his opponents. Valo, who somehow always manages to be there when things go to shit, and Vivi, a girl he thought died in the Orochi attacks. Both were people he'd respected - one of the two having lost that respect some time ago - but now they were to be his opponents. In a no-holds-barred situation, Macht wasn't willing to show any mercy, simply because he expected the same, especially out of these two.

"I don't know what it is you do, but let them hit me and we win by default," the behemoth spoke to his teammate calmly as he walked out of the elevator. From there, he simply began to trek toward Valo and Vivi, eye trained on the two of them intently.

   Over the past few months, Vivi had become more and more prone to self destructive behavior. Not by purposely trying to kill or hurt herself—no. But by mindlessly throwing herself into situations she had a very small chance of surviving. She had thought it would make her stronger, but even after all this time and all the danger, she wasn’t seeing enough results. Yet, Vivi still kept on with it. So here she was, signed up for another tournament. Whether she beat someone into the ground or was beaten down herself, it was better than sitting around in Avarice’s abandoned base and thinking about bad life choices. That just made her feel old. But seeing as she was indeed a teenager and not an old woman, she did what teenagers do. Stupid shit.

   At least it probably wouldn’t be as frustrating as the last tournament she’d been in, right? Having to fight a former best friend, someone she used to trust and care for, had really sucked. Especially when he looked at her with a gaze that seemed to regard her as a stranger. But stranger was probably putting it lightly. Vivi was sure she'd seen hate. But maybe this time she’d fight—

Oh wait... nope.

She was fighting Macht again.

   Him, and a small masked girl she knew nothing about. Having no idea of the girl's capabilities, Vivi decided to just prepare for the worst.

   She stood in the forested arena with her hair tied securely back into a tight messy bun, wisps of it falling around her pale face. Her heart pounded in her ears and she stared blankly at her two opponents. In spite of the situation, one thing warmed her heart. She was with Valo, one of the only people she felt she could trust anymore, and one of the only people she felt truly loved and cared for her. He was also strong—a lot stronger than he used to be, and probably stronger than her. He wasn’t the same boy he used to be back int he fight for Third.
   
    "With the two of us together, I think we can take on anything.”

   She really wanted to smile at him or hug him, or something. But over the past few months an awful bitterness festered inside her, made her feel empty. Expressing herself was so much harder than it used to be. Instead, she used words.
  
     “Yeah. Glad to fight alongside you,” Vivi replied, “I wouldn’t have this any other way.”

   Well, at least she wouldn’t have chosen a different partner. But being two feet taller, incredibly muscular and having the ability to shoot lasers out of her eyes would’ve been absolutely fantastic. Oh well.

Valo figured he would start the match off, walking along the edge of the pond until Macht and his masked ally were lined up, one behind the other.

His right hand would reach forward, his left not far behind it, as a bow made of dark energy formed in his hands. Quickly, he would pull the string back and fire a blast of pure dark energy right for Macht. If he avoided it, it was set to head right for his teammate instead. It was a fight with everything they had, and it meant he had to go in with everything from the start. As he fired it, he broke into a run to his left/Macht's right in an attempt to get some more distance between the two. From this point on, he planned to keep playing defensively.

Macht tanked Valo's shot.

Well, that wasn't what he was planning for at all.

While on the move, Valo kept his eyes on Macht, shocked at how he seemed to just... absorb it. Valo hadn't yet met an opponent who could survive that initial hit dead on, let alone seem completely unaffected by it. Of course, when such an opponent showed up, it had to be Macht.

Tapping into his implant's power, as well as that of his Tiger Stripes, Valo had to harness everything he had as Macht began his charge. He moved at breakneck speed, and Valo had to move even faster than his own regular limits. Hair turning a bright white, his eyes turned completely black and skin became pale as a dark aura followed him. He was unleashing the Wraith early.

The implant gave him enough of a boost to avoid Macht, just narrowly, barely diving out of the way in time as he would hit the ground and land crouched on the ground after a roll. Facing Macht immediately, he saw the crater beneath him, and was glad that he didn't end up a pancake.

"Not playing around, are you?"

His voice came out distorted, almost demonic. Drawing his sword, Valo pointed it at Macht, and his own shadow would seem to come to life, forming into a shadow doppleganger. It would charge at Macht, sword raised, as Valo backed away to get some distance between the two of them.

(OOC: Stats this round: STR: 85 | DEX: 86 | CON: 70 | WIS: 64 | INT: 85

Thunder Stripes: +10 CON, +10 WIS for 1 post per 15 INT (1/5 used)

Remnants of the Wraith: Despite the Wraith being shut down and the implant shutting off, remnants of the Wraith have spread throughout Valo's body. Whenever the ability on this item is used, the Wraith takes over once again. For one post per ten int, Valo gains +10 Str. Additionally, in a separate pool, Valo can gain +10 Dex at the same cost. Both may be used in conjuction at +10 Str, +10 Dex for one post per 10 int. (1/8 STR, 1/8 DEX used)

Dark Light (Tier 1): Channeling the dark energy sitting within himself and tapping into the implant allows Valo to use that power to try and catch his opponent off-guard. For one post per 5 INT, Valo is able to create dopplegangers made of pure darkness, created when a black mist resonates from his body and forming a pitch black lookalike of himself. The doppleganger charges at Valo's opponent, but is unable to physically harm or touch anything, merely serving as a distraction. Repeated uses of this ability in the same post allows Valo to create multiple dopplegangers for paying an extra 5 INT per doppleganger, and they use 5 INT for every post that they continue to exist until Valo calls them off. (1/17 used))

The Wraith watched intently as Macht made his move, barreling through his doppleganger without any hesitation. He knew Macht was relentless, and he knew there wasn't much time to formulate any strategy on the spot when it came to taking this giant down.

Play defensively. Fight smart. It was all he could do.

Charging towards Macht as he made his drop kick, Adrian would move down in a slide on his backside, dark energy forming around him before he did so. His eyes and hair would revert to their normal colors as the Wraith formed separately from his own body where he previously stood. The Wraith would move forward, attempting to sidestep Macht's drop kick before bringing his elbow down on Macht's mid-section, or wherever he could hit.

Meanwhile, while Adrian underneath Macht, the dark bow would form in his hands once more, and he'd attempt to fire a Shadowshot from underneath Macht and strike him in the torso before sliding out and away from danger, rolling to his feet before backing away quickly, as far as he could before Macht could recover.